178 Mycologia 



a. forma typica. On herbaceous stems; 1-2.5 mm - i n height, 



more or less contracted below, bay-brown. Widely dis- 

 tributed in the United States. 



b. var. graminum (Lib.) Rehm in Rabenh. Krypt. Fl. Deutschl, 



i 3 : 55. 1887. 



Acrospermum graminum Libert PI. Crypt. Ard. fasc. 1, No. 33. 

 1830, cum descript. 



On dead leaves of grasses ; 0.4-1.0 mm. in height, linear in out- 

 line, chocolate to warm brownish-black. Recorded in the United 

 States from New York, Missouri, and California. 



c. var. foliicolum (Berk.) Riddle comb. nov. 

 Acrospermum foliicolum Berk. Grevillea 4: 161. 1876. 



On dead leaves of Celtis, Cornus, Ulmus, etc.; 0.7-1.5 mm. in 

 height, stipitate, honey-yellow to russet. Apparently confined to 

 the warmer portion of the United States : specimens examined 

 from New Jersey, North and South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas; 

 and recorded from Alabama. 



In 1914, Mr. W. R. Maxon, of the United States National 

 Herbarium, sent to Dr. W. G. Farlow specimens of an Acro- 

 spermum growing on the living fronds of a tropical fern. In the 

 accompanying letter (Oct. 14, 1914), Mr. Maxon says: "I am 

 sending you herewith two. specimens of Polypodium induens 

 Maxon, these being my 2770 from Jamaica and my 5486 from 

 Panama, both of which seem to be affected with a fungus. I have 

 ' never seen anything like it, and it seems to me a curious coinci- 

 dence that what appears to be the same organism should occur 

 upon individuals of the same species from widely separated re- 

 gions." In a subsequent letter (Dec. 11, 1914), Mr. Maxon 

 adds : " I have gone over all of the material of P. induens and 

 find the fungus occurring upon nearly every collection of it." 

 Dr. Farlow recognized that the material represented a new species 

 and named it in honor of Mr. Maxon, labeling the specimens in 

 the herbarium accordingly. No description was published, how- 

 ever, and after Dr. Farlow's death, Mr. Maxon called the present 

 writer's attention to the plant, and suggested the publication of 

 some account of it. 



