IOWA DISCOMYCETES 89 



plants which are covered with dark dots, the ends of the emergent 

 asci filled with dark purple spores. The plants occur scattered 

 or densely crowded and vary much in size. 



Ascobolus leveillei Boud., Ann. Sci. Nat., V. 10: 225. 1869. 



Plate 30, f. ii. 



« 

 Plants thickly gregarious, small about 1 mm. in diameter or 



less, globose or expanded, externally brown, very rough almost 

 pilose; hymenium dark with the emergent asci; asci 100 to 125 

 by 25^, clavate, 8-spored; spores elliptical, smooth, at first hya- 

 line, then purple and at last brown, 24 to 25 by 12/x paraphyses 

 filiform, simple or branched, granular within. 



On horse-dung, June, 1904, Iowa City. 



These plants were referred to Ascobolus brunneus Cooke in An 

 Annotated List of Iowa Discomycetes but they seem to con- 

 form more closely to the above. The general appearance of the 

 plants as well as the spore characters conform very well to the 

 illustration given with the original description cited above. The 

 plants were collected in considerable mass on horse-dung. 



Saccardo describes the spores of this species as being deli- 

 cately reticulated. Neither the original description nor the il- 

 lustrations accompanying it show this character, but the spores 

 are represented as being entirely smooth as they are in our 

 plants. 



Our specimens were collected, described and the illustration 

 drawn before the original description of this species was seen 

 but in all points the descriptions conform unusually well. 



SACCOBOLUS Boud., Ann. Sci. Nat. V. 10: 228. 1869. 



Receptacle similar to Ascobolus, externally smooth ; asci emer- 

 gent, operculate, clavate, often stipitate, 8-spored; spores ellip- 

 tical to fusiform, at first hyaline, then purple, at last brown, 

 smooth, united into one globular mass in the ascus; plants gen- 

 erally occurring on dung. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



Plants golden-yellow S. Tcerverni. 



Plants violet S. violacens. 



VOL. VI — 1. 7 



