Seaver: Color variation in some fungi 311 



In the Ellis collection at the New York Botanical Garden is a 

 specimen of green-spored Hypocrea labeled, evidently in the hand- 

 writing of Mr. Ellis, " Hypocrea viridis n. s." and the stroma 

 described as being dull greenish within and without, and a note is 

 added stating that it could not be Hypocrea chlorospora B. & C. 

 for the reason that that species was characterized by a black 

 stroma. Another note, added, apparently, at some later time, stated 

 that as the plant dried it became darker and might after all be 



chlorosp 



Hyp 



by Mr. Ellis as being at first yellowish. Both of these specimens 

 when examined in 1906 showed the stromata to be entirely black 

 with a greenish bloom, which came about from the dusting out of 

 the spores from the perithecia. 



The notes on the specimens in the Ellis collection, as well as 

 the observations of the writer on both herbarium and fresh mate- 

 rial which has been collected often and in various localities, tend to 



Hyp 



Hypocrea chlorosp 



bat the range of color- 

 ation in this species is from bright golden or lemon-yellow in very 

 young specimens to dirty greenish as the spores mature and finally 

 black with a greenish bloom, which comes from the dusting out 



°f the spores from the perithecia as the specimens become more 

 aged. 



This view is strengthened by the fact that Tode in his original 

 description recognized two varieties, viridis (green) and lutea (yel- 

 Io w), and Fries later recognized a third, umbrina (dark). 



Hypocrea apiculata Cooke & Peck (Ann. Rep. N. Y. State 

 Mus. 29: 57) a i so shows some rather marked color changes. 

 This species has been studied from numerous collections of fresh 

 material, the identification of which has been confirmed by Mr. 

 Pe ck, one of the authors of the species. In specimens collected 

 m good condition the stromata are of a bright orange-yellow 

 col or. If specimens are dried and exposed to the light for some 

 tlme the color becomes lighter until it assumes a dirty yellowish 

 an d finally becomes almost white or a dirty yellowish-white. In 

 this case the bleached specimen might easily be mistaken for a dis- 

 tort species considering the importance which has usually been 

 Cached to the color character in this genus. 



v 



