665 



black, white inside; stipe slender, equal, glabrous. Perithecia globose, 

 subimmersed, peripherical. Ostiola prominent, depressed-liemisplieric- 

 al. Asci linear. Sporidia uniseriate, oblong, curved, opake. 



On trunks,- Costa Rica (Oersted). 



Resembles X. corniformis, but has a slender, very smooth, vai'- 

 nished, very fragile stipe, about 2 mm. thick, and when dry, cavernose- 

 rugose. Glut) or head about \\ inches long, \ of an inch thick, obtuse, 

 'bare, black, apparently rimose-corrugated, but really the surface is 

 only densely colliculose from the slightly prominent perithecia with 

 their papillose ostiola depressed. Perithecia rather large, exactly 

 globose, peripherical, subirregularly arranged, with the nucleus black. 



X. tentaculkta, B. & Br. Grev. IV, p. 48, Cuban Fungi, 796. 



Stem an inch high, not a line thick. Head cylindrical, 1-2 lines 

 (2-4 mm.) long. Ostiola prominent, tending upwards, crowned liy 

 several tentacular processes about \ an inch long. Allied to Xylaria 

 comosa, Mont. 



In shaded swamps, among mosses and rotten wood. South Caro- 

 lina (Ravenel). 



** Head subclavate; stipe short, thick or obsolete. 



X. polyraorpha, (Pers.) 



SpluEria polymorpha^ Pers. Comm. p. 149. 

 Valsa clavala, Scop'oli, Flora Carniol. p. 398. 

 Xylaria clavala, Schranck, Bayrische Flora, II, p. 566. 

 Clavaria digitala and hybrida. Bull. Champ.' de Franc. I, p. 192 and 194. 

 Sphizria digitala, Muller in Flora Danica, XV, p. 6, tab. goo. 

 Xylatia polymorpha, Grev. Flora Bdin. p. 355. 

 Exsicc. Fckl. F. Rh. 1061, 2267.— Rab. Herb. Mycol. 428.— Rehm Asc. 427.— FU. N. A. F. 

 1300.— Plowr. Sph. Brit. 12.— Roum. F. G. 666.— Sydow, M. March, 183, 1655, 1736. 



Stromata solitary or 2-6 or more cespitose-connected at base, 

 upright, either simple or cylindrical, subattenuated above and below, 

 mostly obtuse; or obovote, compressed, more or less sublobate-divided, 

 o-lobose or otherwise irregular in shape, thick, bare, at first dirty- 

 brown, becoming black, not shining, very variable in size from 2-4 cm. 

 high and \ cm. thick, to 8-11 cm. high and 2^-3 cm. thick. Peri- 

 thecia crowded, tolerably large, ovate or globose, with a papilliform 

 ostiolum. Asci cylindrical, long-stipitate, 8-spored, 140-1 80 (p. sp)x 

 8-10 a. Sporidia uniseriate, elliptical or fusoid, subacute at the ends, 

 subinequilateral or curved, continuous, brown, 20-30 x 6-9 pi. 



On decaying stumps and logs, common. 



The head or perithecia-bearing part is mucti longer and larger 

 than the stipe which is very short or almost none. 

 84 



