64 NORTH AMERICAN SORDARIACEAE 
Asci bap cylindrical, evanescent, rounded above and con- 
tracted below into a short stipe, 16-19 2x 130-160 : para- 
physes M M slightly longer than asci and not much mixed 
with them 
Spores uniseriate, elliptical, broadly but acutely rounded, 
ranging from hyaline when young through olivaceous to dark 
brown and opaque, 13-14 4 x 15-20 #; primary appendage cylin- 
drical, straight or curved fugaceous and shorter than the spore, 
both this and the apex of the spore tipped with a long lash-like 
gelatinous filament which on close +900۶ is seen to be made 
up of two united smaller ones. (Pl. 7. f. 7-70.) 
Distinctive characters: The SEH agglutinated hairs, uni- 
seriate spores and small size. 
Cultivated specimens: On horse dung, New York City, Nov. 
1899; goat dung, Ft. Lee, N. J., Nov. 1899; cow dung, Rooks 
Co., Kan., July, 1899 (Bartholomew); sheep dung, Kingston, R. 
I., Dec. 1899 (Underwood); cow, rabbit, and burro dung, Tuc- 
son, Ariz., Jan. rgoo (Tyler); burro dung, Hermosa, Col., 
March, 1898 (Baker, communicated by Earle); sheep and cow 
dung, Brookings, S. D., Sept. 1899 (Carter); horse dung, Au- 
burn, Ala. Aug. 1899 (Earle); sheep dung, Meridian, N. Y. 
Aug. 1899 (Banker); horse dung, Austin, Texas, Jan. 1900 
(Long). 
The Colorado specimens differed from all others examined in 
having slightly wider spores and almost naked perithecia. The 
texture, habitat, color and appendages were, however, so character- 
istic that these variations are considered simply individual peculiar- 
ities which correspond to similar ones found in the nearly re- 
lated species, P. curvula. The tufts of hairs so characteristic of 
these species are very similar in both of them. There is really 
less difference between the hairiness of P. minuta and some forms 
of P. curvula than between the varieties included under the latter. 
Occasionally also the spores of this species become biseriate by 
the uncoiling and untwisting of the appendages in rupturing the 
perithecia. But this disturbed arrangement is always readily dis- 
tinguished from the true biserial condition of the spores of P. 
curvula. Winter expresses a question as to whether this species 
s really distinct from P. curvula. They have been grown side by 
side on filter paper as well as on the natural substratum and there 
appears to be no question but that there are constant differences 
