6 NORTH AMERICAN SORDARIACEAE 
of very common occurrence all over this country. Although these 
two species, P. vestita and P. zygospora, have been found no less 
than a hundred times in my cultures from different parts of this 
country, only once or twice has it been possible to secure even a 
few stray perithecia on material fresh from the field. It is no 
wonder then that the species are considered rare. For but few 
people indeed go to the trouble of looking for them at all, much 
less of making cultures for the purpose of finding them. It is 
probable therefore that many species which are reported rare in 
German fungus literature will be found to be as abundant there as 
they are in this country when proper methods are employed to 
bring them to light. 
The following schedule will show in tabular form the similar- 
ity of the species of the group reported from Europe and from 
this country, and indicate the distribution by states as far as the 
same has been investigated. 
There has not been sufficient study of material from a wide 
enough range to enable one to venture any conclusions with refer- 
ence to altitudinal distribution, but nevertheless certain peculiarities 
observed in this connection are of considerable interest. Sordaria 
bombardioides appears to be a high altitude species. The first col- 
lection of it in this country was evidently made by Dr. Harkness 
on Mt. Shasta. The record on the Hicks specimen from Michigan 
does not indicate the locality. It is one of the most common and 
conspicuous highland species in Montana. While at Summit, 
Mont. in August 1900, no less than 100 specimens of this plant 
were found at an altitude of 5000 ft. and upward. In the same 
locality Hypocopra merdaria was equally as common and con- 
spicuous, while Sordaria Montanensis was very frequent and easily 
distinguished on the natural substrata. S. alpina has appeared in 
no less than a dozen cultures from the same locality, but in no 
case was it found and recognized until the material was cultivated. 
Attention should also be called here to the frequent appearance 
of the stromatic genus, Hypocopra, in the semi-arid regions. True, 
we have one record of 77. merdaria from Mississippi, but it is very 
strange that it should not appear in any of my cultures from the 
Eastern and the New England States, Messrs. Ellis & Everhart 
report H. equorum from New Jersey. Mr. Ellis’s only specimen 
