MONOGRAPH OF CHAETOMIUM AND ASCOTRICHA 221 
at Newfield, New Jersey, and described by him as Chaetomium 
pusillum, in apparent ignorance of the fact that this combination 
had already been employed by Fries (38) for a different plant. 
For this reason a new name Ch. Ellisianum was proposed by 
Saccardo in the fourteenth volume of the Sylloge, p. 491, but 
since for reasons already stated it has seemed best to recognize 
the genus A scotricha, it becomes necessary to return to the original 
specific name used by Ellis, and to employ a new combination in 
designating this species. 
Conidial growth precedes the development of the perithecia. 
The conidiophores when young are grayish-green to the naked eye, 
while at maturity they are black. Under magnification they 
appear long and slender, rather sparingly branched, at the base 
dark olive-brown to black and about 3.5 и in thickness, tapering 
and fading toward the tip, one to several times sympodially 
branched, the individual axes producing a lateral branch, above 
the point of origin of which the axis terminates in a clavate, 
hyaline ampulla. Тһе lower branches in turn become verticil- 
lately branched, and bear large clusters of ovate to globose 
conidia which are hyaline when young, olive-brown at maturity, 
and measure 5.4 X 3.6 и, appearing smooth except with ап 
immersion lens when a slight irregularity of the wall is apparent. 
In the mounts most favorable for study the threads of the my- 
celium are woven together into rope-like strands, along which 
conodiophores branch forth in large numbers and perithecia take 
their origin. 
The species appears to be by no means rare in this country 
and may frequently be found often in company with other inter- 
esting forms growing on the bottom of barrels which have stood 
for some time in a damp situation, as for example on a cellar 
bottom. It may quickly be recognized by its jet black color and 
the characteristic mingling of perithecia and conidiophores with 
black masses of conidia and ascospores. This species may easily 
be distinguished from Ascotricha chartarum, which it most nearly 
resembles, by the following differences: the smaller perithecia, 
the extremely long, whip-like hairs which are frequently grace- 
fully looped, but seldom branched, and the much smaller spores, 
Which are egg-shaped instead of disc-shaped, and without a girdle. 
