665 



black, white inside; stipe slender, equal, glabrous. Perithecia globose, 

 subimmersed, peripherical. Ostiola prominent, depressed-hemispheric- 

 al. Asci linear. Sporidia uniseriate, oblong, curved, opake. 



On trunks, Costa Rica (Oersted). 



Resembles X. comiformis, but has a slender, very smooth, var- 

 nished, very fragile stipe, about 2 mm. thick, and when dry, cavernose- 

 rugose. Club or head about 1J inches long, of an inch thick, obtuse, 

 bare, black, apparently rimose-corrugated, but really the surface is 

 only densely colliculose from the slightly prominent perithecia with 

 their papillose ostiola depressed. Perithecia rather large, exactly 

 globose, peripherical, subirregularly arranged, with the nucleus black. 



X. tentaculata, B. & Br. Grev. IV, p. 48, Cuban Fungi, 796. 



Stem an inch high, not a line thick. Head cylindrical, 1-2 lines 

 (2-4 mm.) long. Ostiola prominent, tending upwards, crowned by 

 several tentacular processes about \ an inch long. Allied to Xylariu 

 co?nosa, Mont. 



In shaded swamps, among mosses and rotten wood, South Caro- 

 lina (Ravenel). 



** Head subclavate; stipe short, thick or obsolete. 

 X. polymorpha, (Pers.) 



Sphceria polymorpha, Pers. Comm. p. 149. 

 Valsa clavata, Scopoli, Flora Carniol. p. 398. 

 Xylaria clavata, Schrauck, Bayrische Flora, II, p. 566. 

 Clavaria digitata and hybrida, Bull. Champ, de Franc. I, p. 192 and 194. 

 Sphceria digitata, Muller in Flora Danica, XV, p. 6, tab. 900. 

 Xylaria polymorpha, Grev. Flora Edin. p. 355. 

 Exsicc. Fckl. F. Rh. 1061, 2267. Rab. Herb. Mycol. 428. Rehra Asc. 427. Ell. N. A. F. 

 1300. Plowr. Sph. Brit. 12. Roum. F. G. 666. Sydow, M. March, 183, 1655, 1736. 



Stromata solitary or 2-6 or more ccspitose-connected at base, 

 upright, either simple or cylindrical, subattenuated above and below, 

 mostly obtuse ; or obovote, compressed, more or less sublobate-divided, 

 globose or otherwise irregular in shape, thick, bare, at first dirty- 

 brown, becoming black, not shining, very variable in size from 2-4 cm. 

 high and cm. thick, to 8-11 cm. high and 2|-3 cm. thick. Peri- 

 thecia crowded, tolerably large, ovate or globose, with a papilliform 

 ostiolum. Asci cylindrical, long-stipitate, 8-spored, 140-1 80 (p. sp)x 

 8-10 fj.. Sporidia uniseriate, elliptical or fusoid, subacute at the ends, 

 subinequilateral or curved, continuous, brown, 20-30 x 6-9 //. 



On decaying stumps and logs, common. 



The head or perithecia-bearing part is much longer and larger 

 than the stipe which is very short or almost none. 

 84 



