December 27, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



911 



shown by the ascospores present in certain of 

 the specimens the writer has examined. Ellis, 

 in his description, " N. A. Pyren.," p. 552, how- 

 ever, really describes the next species better 

 than this, since his measurelnents of the asco- 

 spores fit that species very closely. Ellis 

 apparently merely copied Winter's measure- 

 ments of the ascospores of Endothia gyrosa of 

 Europe. His references to American speci- 

 mens apparently all relate to the linear-spored 

 form, and Anderson, who made Ellis's draw- 

 ings, gives a fairly good illustration of this 

 (a little too broad), probably made from the 

 exsiceati specimen cited above. 



Shear and Anderson refer this linear-spored 

 species to Sphwria radicalis of Schweinitz, and 

 we are inclined, after careful study of both the 

 Schweinitz and the Fries descriptions, to be- 

 lieve that they may have had reference to this 

 particular fungus. None of the original speci- 

 mens, however, show ascospores, as far as 

 known. Farlow, and not Fries, was the first 

 to consider this form as coming under En- 

 dothia, and the first to definitely mention that 

 the ascospores were linear, so we give him as 

 the second authority for the name. Schwein- 

 itz also described the Cytospora stage of this 

 same fungus, on wood of Liquidambar from 

 Salem, as a new species, Peziza cinnaharina, 

 No. 840 of his " N. A. Fungi," as shown by 

 microscopic examination of this material. 

 This would to-day come under Saccardo's 

 genus Endothiella of the imperfect fungi. 



The ascospores of the specimens we have 

 studied vary from linear to linear-oblong, are 

 occasionally slightly curved, are provided with 

 an indistinct septum which probably is often 

 absent, and are chiefly 6-10 fi, (rarely 12 fji) 

 long by 1-2 /x wide. The fruiting pustules of 

 this species in its Cytospora stage are very 

 similar to or identical with those of the other 

 two forms. This species, however, is sharply 

 differentiated through its ascospores from the 

 other two, and to our mind represents the 

 primitive species from which the next de- 

 veloped. 



■ Perhaps most of the specimens called En- 

 dothia gyrosa in American herbaria come 

 under this species, though it is impossible to 



say so definitely, since most of them are repre- 

 sented only by the Cytospora stage. So far 

 as we have seen ascospore specimens, these 

 have come from the south, so that they give 

 it a present known distribution from Missis- 

 sippi and Florida up to North Carolina. It 

 is not known from Europe, apparently, but the 

 assumption is not unreasonable that it might 

 be found there, especially in the extreme 

 southern part. 



2. The Narrowly-oval Spared Endothia, E. 

 gyrosa (Schw.) Fr. — The ascospores of this 

 species vary from elliptical-oblong to narrowly 

 oval, often tapering at one or both ends, have 

 an evident septum, and are chiefly 6-9 fi, long 

 by 2-3.5 jx wide. Numerous comparative meas- 

 urements of those taken from both oak and 

 chestnut in Europe and America show no dif- 

 ference. When we compare the spores with 

 those of the preceding species, however, the 

 difference is quite evident to any one; when 

 compared with those of the following form, 

 the difference, while much less marked, is still 

 sufficient for one with experience to distin- 

 guish the two by the slightly narrower spores 

 of the species under consideration. 



We believe that this is the fungus described 

 by Schweinitz and by Fries as Sphwria gyrosa, 

 and later made the basis of the genus Bn.- 

 dothia by Fries. There is no doubt but that 

 it is the European fungus called indiffer- 

 ently Endothia gyrosa or E. radicalis, which 

 in its varied career has been placed under 

 such other genera as Valsa, Melogramma and 

 Diatrype. Streinz gives Sphceria fluens Sow. 

 as a synonym, and Shear, after an examina- 

 tion of the specimen in the'Kew Herbarium, 

 thinks it the same, so far as can be told from 

 the Cytospora stage. Other old-time names 

 have been listed by botanists as synonyms, 

 though probably not always correctly. Sac- 

 cardo, having the Cytospora stage on wood 

 instead of bark, created a new genus, En- 

 dothiella, with E. gyrosa as its type species. 

 He knew its relationship to Endothia gyrosa, 

 however. We are indebted to Sacoardo for 

 specimens of this type, and it is readily recog- 

 nized as a stage similar to the small, simple, 

 conical Cytospora fruiting pustules of En- 



