114 MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



branches may also penetrate to the inner cells of the cortex or 

 subcortex, so that the plant is not so completely confined to one 

 plane as is the case with the species that have been referred to 

 Erythrocladia . In Colaconema (?) reticulatum Batters (loc. cit.) 

 endophytic in Desmarestia Dtidresnayi, the vegetative conditions 

 are more as in Erythrocladia, but C. (?) reticulatum is not the 

 type species of Colaconema. These considerations have led us to 

 prefer the generic name Erythrocladia^ for our plant. Although 

 sexual reproduction has not hitherto been attributed to Erythro- 

 cladia, it would hardly seem that this character alone should be 

 considered sufficient ground for proposing a new generic group; 

 at least, so long as Erythrotrichia is allowed to hold a species 

 {E. carnea) in which non-sexual reproduction only is known and 

 another {E. obscura) in which both sexual and non-sexual modes 

 of reproduction have been described. 



As to color of living or freshly collected specimens of Erythro- 

 cladia recondita, we can say little, as our material has been either 

 preserved in fluids or dried. To the best of our belief, however, 

 its color is a dilute or bluish olivaceous. This endophyte attracts 

 little or no attention when the surface of its host is being examined 

 microscopically in ordinary ways, but as soon as iodine (potassium- 

 iodide solution) is applied, it is differentiated with remarkable 

 distinctness. The protoplasts of the Erythrocladia take up the 

 iodine stain, becoming a purplish or bluish black, while the cells 

 of its host are scarcely affected. The carpospores and carpogonia 

 in particular have a special affinity for this stain and sometimes 

 they alone will be colored. \\c have found iodine a most valuable 

 reagent for differentiating small epiphytes and endophytes, 

 especially when they belong to the Rhodophyceae and inhabit 

 Phaeophyceae or Chlorophyceae. When both host and parasite 

 are Rhodophyceous, this reagent is not so effective, as both may 

 react in about the same way, but even in such cases, there are 

 often differences in color reaction that help to define the epiphyte 

 or endophyte. Preparations thus stained may be mounted in 

 glycerine or glycerine-jelly and preserved for considerable periods 

 of time, but, in our exi)erience, the iodine staining is not perma- 



' The genus Neevea Ikittcrs (Jour. Bot. 38: 373. pi. 414. f. 18-22. 1900), eiulozoic 

 in Fluslra foliacea, has been compared with Erythrocladia by Svedelius (Eng. & PranM, 

 Nat. Pflanzenfam. i'': Nachtrage 196. 191 1), but from Batters' description and fiijures, 

 Neevea would appear to us to be more nearly allied to Goniotrichum. 



