655 



forming a continuous layer about | mm. thick and 4-9 cm. long and 

 wide. Tlie stroma is very scanty, covering the perithecia with a 

 thin, black stratum mammillose above from the slightly projecting 

 perithecia with their papilliform, deciduous ostiola. In the specimens 

 in Rav. Car., as well as in the Louisiana specc, the surface of the 

 stroma has a distinct purplish tinge. We have not seen the asci, but 

 the sporidia are oblong, pale brown, 6-10 (mostly 6-8) x 3-4 fi. H. 

 effusum, Nitschke, is closely allied to this. 



On rotten wood, Carolina and Pennsylvania (Schw.), Alabama 

 (Beaumont), on Salix, Louisiana (Langlois), Texas (Wright). 



H. caries, (Schw.) 



SphiEria caries, Schw. Syn. N. Am. 1222. 

 Hypoxylon caries, Sacc. Syll. 1510, Cke. Syn. loii. 



Stroma effused, black within and without, coUiculose and uneven 

 from being composed apparently of many smaller stromata 3-10 mm. 

 diam., fused together laterally more or less perfectly into a continuous 

 or partially interrupted crust, irregular in outline and several centi- 

 meters in extent. Perithecia subglobose, \-\ mm. diam., their apices 

 slightly prominent with a subacute, papilliform ostiolum suri'ounded 

 by an indistinct, lighter colored ring which, however, is not impressed 

 or sunk in the stroma as in H. annulatum. In the specimens ex- 

 amined, the asci had disappeared. Sporidia navicular-fusoid, (sub- 

 hyaline) pale smoky-brown, ends subacute, 10-12 by about 3 fi. 



On rotten wood, Bethlehem, Pa. (Schw.), on rotten oak, Newfield, 

 N. J., on rotten elm {Ulmus Americana), Missouri (Demetrio). 



H. Raven^lii, Rehm, Hedwigia, 1882, p. 137. 



Hypoxylon confluens, Fr. in Rav. F. Am. 348. 



Perithecia single or concrescent, 2-8 together, occasionally seriate, 

 6-12 in a series 3-6 mm. long, nearly globose, |-1 mm. diam., with 

 their bases slightly sunk in the wood (our spec, is on wood and not on 

 bark). Ostiolum distinct, papilliform, black and shining. The peri- 

 thecia are of a dead grayish-black. Asci very long, cylindrical, with 

 abundant well-developed paraphyses. Sporidia elliptical, obtuse, pale 

 brown, with 1-2 large nuclei, uniseriate, 10x5//. 



On bark of decaying oak, Darien, Ga. (Ravenel). 



This is entirely different from H. EaveneUi, Sacc. Syll. I, p. 389, 

 {H. erinaceum, B. & Rav.) which sec. Cke. Grev. XI, p. 128, is a 

 Valsa with long-necked perithecia and hyaline, allantoid sporidia. 

 Whether the above described fungus is the Sphceria confluens, Tode, 



