104 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 3 



In soil, from a paddy field on the road from Port of Spain to Pitch 

 Lake, Trinidad, B.W.I. , April 18, 1939; from sandy soil on the bank 

 of a stream ("Site I"), Caledonia Bay, Panama, April 26, 1939; dry bed 

 below waterfall, 9 miles from Madden Dam, Panama, Canal Zone, 

 March 31, 1939. 



After a careful consideration and study of the genus Monoblepharis 

 it has seemed advisable to segregate M. Taylori in a genus of its own. 

 The remarkable behavior of the zygote is unlike anything observed in 

 Monoblepharis, or, indeed, in the Fungi or Algae, and well warrants 

 generic distinction. It is possible that M. ovigera and M. regignens may 

 in the future be found to possess this same type of sexual reproduction, 

 in which case they too might be included in Monoblepharella. While 

 Monoblephariopsis already exists for their accommodation, this genus is 

 founded on fungi known only from the imperfect stage. Since Monoble- 

 pharella is based on a species with both perfect and imperfect stages, it 

 would, rightly, take precedence. 



The thallus and sporangia of M. Taylori resemble in superficial as- 

 pect those of Monoblepharis regignens and M. ovigera. The mycelium, 

 which forms a lustrous, pearly gray halo around the substrate, is com- 

 posed of delicate, moderately branched hyphae 2 — 3/* in diameter. Near 

 the base, where the plant is anchored by a system of holdfasts to the 

 substrate, the hyphal axes may attain a diameter of 5/x. Catenulate series 

 of swellings are formed on the hyphae of some, but not all, isolates. It is 

 suspected that these are due to an extraneous parasitic organism. How- 

 ever, no reproductive phase has ever been observed which would sub- 

 stantiate this idea. The contents of the hyphae are characteristically dis- 

 posed in a rich network, or reticulum, within which may be seen moving 

 along the long axis somewhat coarse refractive granules of irregular size. 

 A preliminary cytological examination of these hyphae shows the minute 

 nuclei to be disposed at more or less regular intervals. 



Occasionally both nonsexual and sexual reproductive organs may be 

 formed simultaneously on the same plant (pi. 17, fig. 10). However, 

 at room temperature (20-21°C.) a preponderance of zoosporangia is 

 produced, whereas at 30 °C. the formation of sexual organs occurs in 

 abundance. 



The zoosporangia are ordinarily produced at the periphery of the 

 colony at the tips of delicate, sparingly branched hyphae. By subsequent 

 sympodial branching of the hypha they come to appear lateral. The dif- 



