120 THE SAPROLEGNIACBJE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



And while he did study it, he failed to notice its correspondence with Hildebrand's 

 figures and description, and therefore named it anew A. gracilipes. But no one who 

 will carefully compare the figures given by both authors will, I think, seriously ques- 

 tion that they represent the same species. Again, Hildebrand states that secondary 

 sporangia are not produced in his A. polyandra, a statement that DeBary ('81) dis- 

 putes as untrue for his A. polyandra. But in his description of A. gracilipes ('88), 

 DeBary says that secondary sporangia are only sparingly developed, a statement 

 which I can corroborate for American specimens. The two descriptions agree in 

 all other essential points, so far as they are comparable ; and the evidence seems 

 completely satisfactory that the correct synonymy of this distinct species is as above 

 given. 



The species shows as many points of affinity, perhaps, with A. DeBaryana and 

 A. megasperma as with any others, but differs from them too widely to permit us to 

 suppose any very recent common ancestry. 



AcHLYA APicuLATA DeBary ('88). 



111.: Ward, '83, PI. XXII, Figs. 15, 16. 

 DeBary, '88, PI. X, Figs. 3-5. 

 PL XIX, Figs. 82-86, and XV, 26, 27. 



Hyphse stout, often long. Zoosporangia fusiform, abundant. Oogonial branches 

 somewhat elongate, usually hooked or recurved, racemose. Oogonia terminal, globu- 

 lar or oval, oftenest with a distinct apiculus, rarely intercalary, their walls smooth 

 and unpitted. Antheridial branches rather stout, mostly unbranched, from near the 

 base of the oogonial branch, or sometimes from that branch. Antheridia one to 

 several on each oogonium, short-clavate. Oospores one to ten, commonly three to 

 five, in an oogonium, centric, their average diameter about 36//.. 



Massachusetts — Amherst : Alabama — Auburn, Atkinson. Europe. 



So far as Amhei'st is concerned, this species is the most abundant after A. 

 Americana. It has appeared in several cultures from various pools and ditches, and 

 is not to be confounded with any other species. Its sporangia are often more strik- 

 ingly fusiform than those of most AcMyce, as is well shown in Ward's figures ('83) 

 and in our Fig. 82. The apiculate oogonia which contain, when 3'oung, a very 

 opaque, dark-colored protoplasm, and, when old, a few large oospores, are very char- 

 acteristic and easily recognized. The oospores are surpassed in size and opacity 



