276 White : The Nidulariaceae of North America 



Nidiilaria Alabamcnsis Atk. Bull. Cornell Univ. (Science) 3:23 

 1897. 



Peridia subspherical, sessile, 2-10 mm. wide, 2-9 mm. high, 

 reddish-brown or dirty cinnamon-colored, at first very floccose-pul- 

 verulent, gradually becoming smoother with age, dehiscing irregu- 

 larly or not at all ; peridium thin and rather brittle, tuberculose ; 

 inner surface is shiny, smooth, brownish ; sporangioles very numer- 

 ous, darkish brown, barely i mm. in diameter, somewhat angular 

 and depressed; spores hyaline, thick-walled, 6-10 « long, 4-7 ix 

 wide. {PI. 17. f. 10-16, 20; PL 18. f. ig.) 



Plants gregarious, rarely singly on wood. 



New York : Ellis, Faivman, Kiipfer ; Louisiana: Langlois, 

 2666 and 182 1 ; Connecticut: White; Maine: Harvey; Ala- 

 bama ; Auburn, Atkinson. 



The floccose pulverulent appearance of the surface of the peri- 

 dium is caused by the innumerable ends of the filaments which 

 compose the peridium protruding above the main structure, soon 

 becoming broken or eroded. This is a very characteristic feature 

 which renders this species easily recognizable. 



Atkinson (/. c.) describes Nidularia Alabamensis, which un- 

 doubtedly belongs here substantially as follows : Peridia spherical, 

 sessile, reddish-brown, roughened, 4-5 mm. in diameter, irregularly 

 dehiscing by the breaking into fragments of the upper portion ex- 

 posing the sporangioles which completely fill it; no "rooting" 

 threads ; sporangioles lenticular, shiny, dark or blackish-brown, 

 barely i mm. in diameter, corrugated, hard, filled with a whitish 

 pulpy material which is composed of stout irregular flexous or 

 blanched knotty strongly tuberculose threads with which the 

 spores are mixed ; the spores are obovately hyaline, 4-6 x 3-4 /^. 

 On decaying wood. 

 Alabama : Auburn, July, 1890. 



2. Granularia castanea (Ell. St Ev.) sp. no v. 



Nidularia castanea Ellis & Everhart in herb. 



Peridia small, elongate-globose, or subspherical, sessile, some- 

 times confluent, .5-2 mm. long, 0.5-1 mm. high ; peridial walls 

 very thin, and brittle at first, pale yellowish fawn-colored, grad- 

 ually as the plant matures becoming grayish, and somewhat tuber- 

 culose from the inner pressure of the sporangioles, dehiscing 

 irregularly, the outer covering often breaking away completely, 



