250 OVvERHOLTS: DIAGNOSES OF AMERICAN PortAs—II 
to oblong- reser or broadly ellipsoid, smooth, thin-walled, 
hyaline, 4-6 3-4 w; basidia broa as clavate to pyriform 
hyaline paraphysis-like bodies; Abundant large crystals present 
t 
variable, in thin and compact collections from dry substrata 
rigid, much branched, 1.5-3 w diameter; in better developed 
collections less branched or unbranche d, 2-5 u diameter; all 
without apparent cross walls and clamps. 
On bark and wood of deciduous trees; recorded from Acer, 
Artemisia, Castanea, Fagus, Fraxinus, Gleditsia, Liriodendron, 
Ostrya, Populus, Prunus, Quercus, Rhus, Robinia, Tilia, and 
Ulmus. ten on fence posts and other structural timbers. 
Specimens Examined: Ormstown, Quebec, Canada; North - 
Conway, New Hampshire; Greenwood, Massachusetts; Knowers- 
ville, North Greenbush, and Sylvan Beach, New York; Westport, 
State College, and Greenwood Furnace, Pennsylvania; Richwood 
and Monmouth Junction, New Jersey; Chain Bridge, Maryland; 
Morgantown, Thomas, and Seneca, West Virginia; Arlington, 
Virginia; Fort Valley, Georgia; West Elkton (three collections), 
Oxford (eleven collections), and Cincinnati, Ohio; West Lafay- 
ette, Indiana; Geneseo and Cerro Gordo, Illinois; New Rich- 
mond, Frankfort, and Ann Arbor, Michigan; St. Louis County, 
Wicks, Meramec Highlands, and St. Louis, Missouri; Camp 
Pike, Arkansas; St. Paul, Minnesota; Blue Mounds, Wisconsin; 
Darby, Montana; Tolland, Colorado (three collections) ; Guad- 
aloupe, California. 
There are in my herbarium nearly sixty collections of this 
species with a range from New Hampshire to Georgia and west 
to California. As would be expected the species shows quite a 
bit of variation in this range. Bresadola and Murrill have 
already indicated P. pulchella Schw. as a synonym and after a 
close study of all these collections I find myself in agreement 
with them. I would also add P. Xantholoma Schw. to the list 
of synonyms. The species varies from a thin compact, rather 
hard plant (PLATE 14, FIG. 2), that often cracks on drying, to a 
more coriaceous or leathery plant (PLATE 14, FIG. 1) somewhat 
separable from the substratum. The first form is typical of 
the plant as it grows in dry exposed situations such as on fence 
posts, fence rails and structural timbers. This form usually has 
narrow rigid hyphae (TEXT FIG. 3) that are. much branched and 
