80 NORTH AMERICAN SORDARIACEAE 
opaque; primary appendage twice as long as the spore, cylindrical, 
curved ; this as well as the apex of the spore tipped with a long 
lash-like gelatinous fugacious secondary appendage. (Pl. 5. f. < 
10-13. 
Distinctive characters; White tomentum and black leathery 
perithecia. 
Cultivated specimens: On horse dung, New York City, 
March 1900; cow dung, greenhouse of Columbia University 
during entire winter of 1899-1900; cow dung, Englewood, N. 
J., Aug. 1899; cow dung, Schaghticoke, N. Y., Aug. 1899 
(Banker); cow and horse dung, Auburn, Ala., Aug. 1899 
(Earle); cow dung, Brookings, S. D., Nov. 1899 (Carter). 
A very interesting species from the fact that mature spores are 
seldom met with. Cultures have been examined two or three 
times a month without finding a single mature spore. There 
appears to be no question but that immature spores are ejected 
from the perithecium and that only under certain circumstances 
are mature ones produced. Indeed only about a half dozen asci 
with mature spores have been found during the entire time that 
the species has been studied. Often one may find asci in which 
the spores are slightly enlarged at the end, but it is seldom that 
they can be found in even the olive-green stage. In the vast 
majority of cases they are simply the long cylindrical curved, 
guttulate structures that are the forerunners ofthe spores of so 
many species of this genus. The asci enlarge readily when forced 
from the perithecium under the cover-glass, and act in all respects 
like the mature asci of other species. Immature spores have never 
been seen ejected out of the ostiolum, although they have often been 
found in globular masses on the apex of the perithecium. My 
views in this matter are strengthened by the fact that Woronin * 
found that the immature spores of this as well as other species of 
the genus germinate readily in water, producing mycelium and 
conidia. My experiments confirm Woronin's work as far as the 
production of mycelium, but the cultures were spoiled before the 
conidial stage was reached. It would seem that the plant has 
adopted this more speedy method of propagation when circum- 
stances are favorable for such a method ; but that these immature 
4 
*Abhand. Senk. naturforsch. Gesell. 7: 325-360. 1870. 
