74 



ill Philadelphia, and I have also examined Schweinilzian speci- 

 mens in the Curtis Herbarium at llarvard. Unfortunately I 

 have not as yet succeeded in finding a Schweinitzian specimen of 

 aS'. radicalis which shows ascospores; possibly none of the so- 

 called >S'. radicalis has ascospores, but I am not yet certain that 

 that is the fact. Specimens supposed to be S. gyrosa are com- 

 mon in American herbaria and have frequently been distributed 

 in different sets of exsiccati. Unfortunately of the considerable 

 number of specimens I have examined, the greater part were 

 sterile although judging by the habit alone, they might very Avell 

 be aS. gyrosa. I have, however, seen no specimens in the older 

 American lierbaria where the fungus supi)osed to be >S'. gyrosa 

 was certainly growing on chestnut. In general the hosts v»'ere 

 not specificially stated but a large per cent, were evidently on 

 oak. There is a fungus common on oak in the Southern states 

 which has the external habit of Endothia, and ai)pears fre- 

 quently in herbaria as Endothia gyrosa. An examination of a 

 number of fertile specimens on oak from different localities, hav- 

 ing all the appearance of being E. gyrosa, has shown that the as- 

 cospores are unlike those of the Endothia of Northern Italy or 

 like those of what is called Diaporthe parasitica. Stated in 

 words the differences may seem to be slight but in practice one 

 can without difficulty distinguish the two. The spores of the 

 form on oak have hardly half the diameter of those of the chest- 

 nut and the spores are nearly linear. Naturally no definite ac- 

 count of the spores was given by Schweinitz and therefore ex- 

 cept by an examination of authentic specimens we are not able 

 to say whether the form on oak should be considered the true H. 

 gyrosa of Schweinitz or not. As I have said, I have not yet been 

 able to complete my examination of original material, not as yet 

 having found mature S. radicalis. 



Although further examination is necessary before expressing 

 a final opinion, certain facts seem to be settled. Our form on 

 chestnut called Diaporthe parasitica, described in 190G, and that 

 on chestnut in Italy collected by Daldini in 18G2 are identical as 

 far as can be determined by a study of the dried, herbarium 

 specimens which we have been able to examine. As far as I have 

 been able to examine the older herbaria, I have found no speci- 

 men of Endotliia on chestnut in North America. There is, how- 



