MONOGRAPH OF THE LALSOULBENIACE^E. 



377 



Ceratomyces minisculus Thaxter. Plate XXV, figs. 15-18. 



I'roc. Am. Acad. Arts and Sci. Vol. XXVIII, p. 187. 



Becoming more or less deeply tinged with amber-brown. Receptacle consisting of about 

 three superposed basal cells, all blackened, opaque, and indistinguishable, surmounted by a 

 few small cells partly blackened below, from which arise the appendage and perithecium. 

 Perithecium sub-conical, ten or eleven cells in each cell-row, a short blunt conical unicellular 

 projection borne sub-laterally below the tip, which is usually curved slightly outward. Appendage 

 tapering to a slender tip, simple, or bearing a few short branches near its apex, seldom as long 

 as the perithecium. Spores, 75 x 4 \i. Perithecia, 110-150 x 30-40 /a. Receptacle, average, 

 90 x 40 ix. Appendage, 50-110 p long. 



On Trophternus nimbatus Say, Kittery Point, Maine ; Milford, Connecticut ; Texas. 



This curious little species occurs rather rarely, growing appressed on the lower surface of 

 the hyaline outer margin of the right elytron of its host, usually near the tip, and is 

 readily distinguished by its relatively large jet-black receptacle, which is about as large as the 

 perithecium itself. It is not readily obtained in good condition. 



Ceratomyces terrestris Thaxter. Plate XXV, figs. 19-24. 



Proc. Am. Acad. Arts and Sci. Vol. XXIX, p. 94. 



Nearly hyaline, with black or dark brown suffusions. Perithecium large, slightly inflated, 

 tapering to a bluntly rounded or truncate apex, from which the sharply pointed lips project ; the 

 wall of the perithecium consisting of four series of about twelve cells each, its base formed from 

 three small cells, below which a single similar small cell connects it with the receptacle. Recep- 

 tacle consisting of three small superposed squarish cells, the upper of which gives rise to the 

 perithecium and the appendage. The appendage, consisting of six or more superposed, flattened 

 cells becoming externally suffused with blackish brown or black (the suffusion sometimes 

 involving the whole series as well as the entire receptacle, with the exception of its basal cell)} 

 bearing' on its inner side numerous hyaline branches simple or once or twice branched, the lower 

 arising from a series of small cells which may extend across the base of the perithecium on one 

 side. Spores, 15 x 2.5-3 /*. Perithecium, 75-90 x 22-29 fi. Receptacle, 25 ^ long. Total 

 length to tip of perithecium, 100-140 to tip of main appendage, 45-65 /x. Longest branches 

 of appendage, 75 fi. 



On Lathrobmm punctulatum Lee, Kittery Point, Maine; Arlington, Mass. 



This minute and curious species is chiefly interesting from the fact that it is a terrestial form 

 in a typically aquatic genus, of which, however, it seems to possess all the essential characters. 

 In contrast to its congeners, it is among the smallest of all the Laboulbeniaceas, and is very 

 readily overlooked. It inhabits the legs of its host as a rule, but is sometimes found on the 

 abdomen. It varies considerably in the number of branches which arise from the appendage or 

 from cells near its base, and some of these branches are peculiar, for what appears to be a gelat- 

 inous modification of their tips, which result in the clavate form shown in figs. 20-21. In the 

 majority of specimens the branches are wholly broken off, as in figs. 19 and 22. Unlike the 

 other species of the genus, the spores appear to be septate near the apex. 



