TIIAXTKK. - 



MONOGRAPH OF THE LABOULBENIAC] E 



397 



X . r )() 60 /<, including the stalk (40 /*). Receptacle 220 X 00-70 /<. Appendices including branches 

 200 360 /(. Total length to tip of perithecium, average, . r )()() //.. 



On the elytra and prothorax of Oalerita carbonaria Mannerh., Brazil; Berlin Museum, No. (too. 



This species, as I have noted above, may prove (o he nothing more than the" ordinary typical condition 

 of a species in which a tendency to considerable variation culminates in the form described as L. fiixi- 

 formis; and even L. incerfa, despite the essential difference in the cell arrangement of its receptacle and 

 its different type of perithecium may have to be united with it. As may be seen from the illustrations, 

 however, the differences between these forms are sufficiently striking, and appear to warrant at least 

 their provisional separation. Though quite unlike it in other respects L. p&rphxa resembles triordinata 

 in the free vertical development of its primary appendages, and their divergence which is usually well 

 marked. 



Laboulbenia decipiens Thaxtcr. Plate LXIV, figs. 11-12. 



Since it was originally described, a considerable amount of material of this species has been examined 

 from various localities, as well as additional specimens from the original source. The original figure 

 represents the maximum development of older individuals, in which the perithecium may become a dark 

 olivaceous brown; but in general the brown coloration is not well marked, being replaced by olivaceous 

 shades. There is considerable variation in the suffusions of the receptacle, which may be nearly hyaline, 

 as well as in the prominence of the opacity of the basal cells of the appendages. A reexamination of the 

 specimen from which the original figure was drawn, in which the appendages were badly broken and 

 confused, shows further that the drawing is incorrect in that it represents the third and fourth branches 

 of the inner appendage as of the sterile type. As a matter of fact in well developed specimens four, or 

 even five, of the lower branches of the inner appendage may be antheridial, and in ordinary cases there 

 are at least three such antheridial branches. 



In South America the species varies to a usually smaller and more olivaceous form, fig. 12, and speci- 

 mens from three sources on the upper Amazon, fig. 11, tend to vary, in that cells III-V are replaced by 

 two cells; but individuals occasionally occur in this material having the normal number and arrangement. 

 The receptacle apparently never becomes elongate and is often very short and compact. The tw ist in 

 the peritheeial wall-cells is always pronounced and characteristic, although it might readily be overlooked 

 in paler specimens. The appendages in smaller forms are apt to become more elongate than in the larger, 

 and may reach a length of 300 p.. An examination of over one hundred and fifty specimens shows an 

 extreme variation in length from 675 p. in one specimen, to 225 [i, the Amazon specimens being usually 

 smaller on the average. 



Laboulbenia Argentinensis described by Spegazzini in the Anales del Musco Nacional de Buenos Aires, 

 Tomo VIII (Ser. 3a, t. I) p. 79, of which the author has kindly furnished me an original sketch, appears 

 to be one of the forms of the present species. Although it was described as occurring on a species of 

 Brarltinus, there seems to have been confusion as to the nature of the host, which was, with little doubt, 

 the common Galcriia of middle Argentina. The types have unfortunately been lost, so that there is no 

 way of verifying the above reference. As sketched, the tip of the stalked perithecium is more blunt, the 

 spiral wall-cells are not indicated, the sterile appendages are represented as moniliform throughout, 

 though evidently broken, the antheridia large and sessile, the receptacle, however, just as in typical L. 

 confusa. The original description is not intelligible and it would be quite impossible to determine the 

 species from it. 



The sources of the additional material of L. decipiens above referred to arc as follows: U. S. National 

 Museum; on Galerita nigra Chev., Paso Antonio, Guatemala; also No. 18, Maracaibo, Brazil. From 

 the British Museum No. 708, on G. wquinoctialis Chd., Vera Paz, Guatemala; No. 518, on G. unwolor 

 Dej., Amazon; No. 957 on G. porcata Kb, Cameta, Brazil; No. 963 on G. striata Klg., Port au Prince, 

 Haiti; No. 958 on G. melanaria Erichs, British Guiana; No. 964 on Galcriia sp., Columbia; No. 966 on 

 Galerita sp., Sierra Geral, Brazil. 



