MONOGRAPH OF CHAETOMIUM AND ASCOTRICHA 185 
In 1883 Roumeguére and Patouillard redescribed the species 
as Ch. Liberti. The writer has examined authentic exsiccati 
specimens of this form in Fung. Gall. No. 2376, and it is not 
clear to him why in their diagnosis, the authors compared and 
contrasted it with Ch. crispatum, since it does not bear the slightest 
resemblance to that species. 
In 1885 Ellis gave the name Ch. velutinum to specimens which 
were collected by Carpenter on a damp maple log, but in North 
American Pyrenomycetes (32, p. 124) the same author lists Ch. 
velutinum as a synonym under Ch. pannosum. According to the 
arrangement used by the present writer Ellis's name must be listed 
as a synonym to Ch. elatum. 
In 1886 Roumeguére applied the name Ch. atrum Link, var. 
distinctum, to this species which he found growing isolated and 
arranged in parallel lines on poplar wood. While the preparation 
Which could be obtained from Fung. Gall. No. 3883 was broken 
and somewhat scanty, it was possible to identify and study the 
spores and fragments of the branched hairs. The characteristics 
of these structures were found to vary in no way from those of 
Ch. atrum Link, and therefore from Ch. elatum Kze. That peri- 
thecia should be scattered or that they should appear arranged in 
lines along the substratum would seem to be conditions which 
could hardly warrant the separating of a variety from the type 
form, since such characteristics are likely to appear in any species, 
especially when the substratum is more or less furrowed as it is 
in the case of stems. 
In 1891 Roumeguére distributed specimens of the same plant 
in Fung. Gall. No. 5827, under the name Ch. Fieberi Cda., f. 
chartarum. No description was published at that time, however, 
and so far as can be learned, no mention or diagnosis has since 
been made: Тһе present writer has examined authentic speci- 
mens and has found them to be characteristic of Ch. elatum Kze. 
in all details. Two years later, in 1893, the same author used 
the name Ch. comatum (Tode) Fr., var. ligni, in Fung. Gall. No. 
6309, for plants which he found on wood. Here again no descrip- 
tion is to be found with the specimens and no subsequent нағы 
of them has appeared. It does not seem advisable to retain this 
name and set apart a variety from the type form simply on 
