16 BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN MEMOIRS 



to note that the forms with parthenogenetic asci, generaHzed or not, 

 were not endowed with potentiaHties of progress, nor with the evolu- 

 tion of any important Unes. They have made practically little progress 

 and are few in number. On the other hand, those forms with sexually 

 produced asci, even though the sexuality be of a very greatly reduced 

 type, were endowed with great potentialities as evidenced by the large 

 group of Euascomycetes with high specialization, and great divergence 

 of character in several different series. 



Technical Description 



Endogone sphagnophila^ n. sp. Plants (zygocarps), 2-4 mm. in 

 diameter, pulvinate, reniform, plain or subcerebriform with two to 

 three low lobes or convolutions, orange yellow when mature, Peridium 

 white, submembranous, tough, of interwoven coenocytic, profusely 

 branched hyphae, minutely tomentose or downy from free, terminal, 

 very slender branchlets, 4-5 ii at base, i ^t or less at the tips. Mycelium 

 of the zygocarp 10-15 M in diameter, coenocytic, stout, non-septate, 

 branched in a dichotomous, or trichotomous manner, or several 

 branches springing from enlargements, radial, the terminal branches 

 interlacing to form the peridium. Progametes equal. Gametangia 

 separated from mycelium by a cross wall, equal or usually slightly 

 unequal, multinucleate. ''Resting spores'' (zygotes) formed as an 

 outgrowth from the conjugation point of the gametangia, or more rarely 

 from the larger one, one resting spore formed in the primary zygote 

 membrane from each pair of gametangia, elliptical to oval, rarely 

 irregular, with orange yellow content and a thick, white, stratified 

 cartilaginous wall, 35-60 x 30-45 ^u, germination unknown. 



On sphagnum in a ravine in region of Seventh Lake, Fulton Chain, 

 Adirondack Mts., New York, July 1916, Aug. 1917; and in Cranesville 

 moor. Western Maryland, Sept. 19 17 (rarely on other mosses or on 

 dead twigs). Thaxter (Bot. Gaz. 24: 12, 1897) reports it on sphagnum 

 in Maine. 



Latin diagnosis. Pulvinatis, reniformibus, subcerebriformibus, aureis, 2-4 mm.; 

 peridiis albidis submenbranceis, lentis, floccosis intertextis, tomentosulis; myceliis 

 glebae 12-15 m, radiatis, dichotomis vel trichotonis vel plurichotomis, ramulis 

 terminalibus peridium formantibus; sporis orientibus ab gametangiis copulantibus, 

 cllipsoideis vel ovalibus, maximis, 35-60 x 30-45 fx, plasmate aureo. Hab. on sphag- 

 num, Adirondack Mts., New York, and in Maine and Maryland. 



LITERATURE CITED 

 Atkinson, Geo. F. Phytogeny and Relationships in the Ascomycetes. Ann. Mo. 

 Bot. Garden 2: 315-376. Figs. 1-9. 1914. 



^ Closely related to E. ludwigii Bucholtz, but this species is subterranean with a 

 prominent germ pore in the thick wall of the zygote and the nuclei are reduced to 

 two which fuse at maturity. 



