MONOGRAPH OF THE LABOULI3ENIACK . 1 .. 



355 



This genus presents one- of the most curious and clearly defined types among the Laboul- 

 beniaceas, and although the succeeding genus Diplomyces is evidently its nearest ally, its im- 

 mediate relations to other genera are very obscure. Owing to the early multiplication of 

 append iculate cells, the relation of the appendages to the points of origin of the perithecia have 

 not been determined. The exact process by which the terminal series of cells is formed is also 

 not clear. This series does not have the same appearance from all sides, and it appears 

 to be produced as a result of the successive separation of the cells which form ii, through 

 the proliferation of the receptacle to the right and left of a common centre within which the 

 perithecia arise. The appendages are unlike those of any other genus, and result from the 

 formation of successive sympodial branches, which arc formed in a vertical radial plane. 

 When young they bear the antheridia usually near the base, sometimes alternating irregu- 

 larly with prominent beak-like branchlcts of characteristic appearance, the two forming a 

 single external vertical series (Plate X, figs. 6 and 11). The trichogynes are often very 

 highly developed, varying greatly in their luxuriance in different specimens of the same 

 species. In some cases they are not unlike the appendages in general appearance, the form and 

 mode of branching of their terminal portions being very similar; although in T. Actobii there 

 is a very distinct and characteristic modification of the receptive tips of their ultimate branch- 

 lets (fig. 17). Fig. 1, Plate II, represents another instance of a highly developed female organ. 

 The perithecia have but four wall-cells in each row, and appear to contain but two ascogenic 

 cells. The species all occur on beetles belonging to the Staphylinidaj, which are found in very 

 wet situations. 



Teratomy/ces mirificus Thaxter. Plate I, fig. 1 ; Plate X, figs. 4-7. 



I'roc. Am. Acad. Arts and Sci. Vol. XXVIII, p. 182. 



Perithecia one to three, pale, becoming reddish or purplish brown, straight, basally inflated, 

 distally sub-cylindrical ; tapering abruptly to a symmetrical truncate apex, the stalk-cell cylindri- 

 cal, often very elongate. Receptacle somewhat flattened, consisting of a small narrow basal cell, 

 brown but more or less translucent ; a larger sub-basal cell, which bulges abruptly on one side 

 and is almost wholly opaque except along this prominence : while the distal of its three cells is 

 hyaline, becoming reddish brown, very variable in length, sometimes much longer than the basal 

 and sub-basal cells together. The larger appendages consist of a single long slender flat reddish- 

 brown basal cell, bearing very numerous antheridia or sterile beak-like branchlcts in a single 

 vertical row, the terminal branches larger and themselves one to three times branched, the ulti- 

 mate brauchlets often obliquely septate, the septa dark or terminating in pointed beak-like 

 cells. Spores, 40 x 4 u. Perithecia, 128-140 x 22-26 Stalk (longest), 480 Appendages 

 (longest), 185 /a. Receptacle, 110-180 /i, greatest width about 45 p. Total length to tip of 

 perithecium, 220- 750 fi. 



On Acylophorus pronics Er., Maine and Massachusetts; A. flavicollis Sachs., Pennsylvania 

 and Kansas. A. flavipes Lee, Florida. 



The specimens of this singular species, which were found on the abdomen of A. flavipes from 

 Florida, differ from those on the other hosts in their much smaller size, and are not more than 

 half as large as the ordinary form. Yet there seems to be no doubt concerning their identity. 



