Seaver: Studies in Tropical Ascomycetes 237 



placed in the genus Neopeckia by Starback, 2 thus confirming the 

 contention of the writer. Neopeckia differs from Herpotrichia in 

 that the spores are never more than i -septate while in the latter 

 they show a tendency to become more than I -septate, although in 

 the species under discussion they are only occasionally so. 



We give below a description of the two species with a list of 

 the apparent synonyms of each and some idea of the wide range 

 of distribution. Attention is especially called to the close simi- 

 larity in size and form of the spores from specimens collected in 

 widely separated localities. While the specimens often vary in the 

 amount of tomentum present, color, etc., the spores remain con- 

 stant in size and form and without the spore characters it would 

 be very difficult, if not impossible, to decide in many cases on the 

 identity of the species. 



Neopeckia diffusa (Schw.) Starb. Bih. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl. 

 19 (3) 2 : 30. 1894 



Sphaeria diffusa Schw. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. II 4: 210. 1832. 

 Sphaeria rhodomphala Berk. Hooker's Jour. Bot. 4: 313. 1845. 

 Herpotrichia rhodomphala Sacc. Syll. Fung. 2 : 212. 1883. 

 Amphisphaeria subiculosa Ellis & Ev. Jour. Myc. 2 : 103. 1886.. 

 By sso sphaeria diffusa Cooke, Grevillea 15: 81. 1887. 

 Amphisphaeria diffusa Sacc. Syll. Fung. 9: 747. 1891. 

 Herpotrichia rhodospiloides Peck, Bull. Torrey Club 36: 154. 

 1909. 



Perithecia gregarious, globose, seated on or involved in an 

 effused, thin, black tomentum, subglabrous and dull reddish-brown 

 or grayish at the apex, sometimes entirely black ; ostiola obscurely 

 lacerated; asci clavate or subcylindric, 60-100 /x long, 10-12 fi 

 broad; spores crowded or subdistichous, oblong or fusoid, straight 

 or slightly curved, 1 -septate, usually with one or two oil-drops in 

 each cell, hyaline, becoming pale-brown, 6-8 x 16-20 fx. 



On dead wood and twigs. 



Type locality : Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 



Distribution: North America; Guadeloupe; Trinidad. 



Illustration : E. & P. Nat. Pfl. 1 : 396, /. 255, H-J. 



Exsiccati: N. Am. Fungi 2130 (as Amphisphaeria subiculosa), 

 2540 (as Herpotrichia diffusa) ; Fungi Columb. 2835 ( as Herpo- 



2 Engler-Prantl, Nat. Pfl. i*: 396. 



