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Mycologia 



to secure culture material proved helpful to an extent far beyond 

 the proportional amount of time consumed. The earliest one 

 took Mr. F. D. Kern and the writer to Mammoth Cave in Ken- 

 tucky. It was specifically undertaken to discover a telial form 

 to accompany the aecia known to occur on Porteranthus stipu- 

 lates (Gillenia stipulacea) . A careful microscopic examination 

 made during the winter of 1907-8 of the aecia on this host, which 

 were collected by Rev. C. H. Demetrio in 1884 at Perryville, Mo., 

 and distributed as No. 3323 in Rabenhorst-Winter, Fungi euro- 

 paei, under the name of Roestelia lacerata, which it much resem- 

 bles, showed that the fungus was undoubtedly a true Roestelia, 

 although the host is an herb belonging to the rose family. As 

 this is the only known instance of the aecial stage of a Gymno- 

 sporangium occurring on any host outside of the woody plants 

 of the apple family, the detection of the telial form appeared to 

 be a matter of more than usual interest. The original collection 

 was apparently the only one known, until a search was made 

 through the phanerogamic herbaria in a number of places, and a 

 few pycnia were detected on a collection of the host at the New 

 York Botanical Garden, which was made at Mammoth Cave, in 

 June, 1870, by Dr. T. F. Allen. Upon writing to Rev. Demetrio 

 it was learned that the locality of the original collection has been 

 turned into cultivated fields, quite destroying the chances of mak- 

 ing a second collection in the original habitat. It was known to 

 the writer that the estate of several thousand acres about the 

 Mammoth Cave has been in litigation for a number of years, and 

 that few changes have taken place in the long period during which 

 the cave has been an object of world-wide interest to tourists. 

 After considering these facts it was decided to visit the vicinity 

 of the cave, hoping to detect material from which cultures could 

 be made. Two days were spent at the cave. The most careful 

 search on the first day was in vain, although the host was found 

 as tender shoots only a few inches high, and also an abundance 

 of red cedar trees. The second day afforded better success, and 

 considerable material of what appeared to be a new form of 

 Gymnosp orangium was discovered on the trunks of small cedars 

 growing near plants of Porteranthus, although pycnia and aecia 

 could not be expected owing to the earliness of the season. Sub- 



