A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF THE 

 COLLEMACEAE 1 



Bruce Fink 

 (With Plate 13) 



In 1912 and 1913 (1 and 2), Freda M. Bachman published two 

 papers in which a new form of male reproductive tract and a 

 peculiar behavior of the trichogyne were described. During the 

 progress of Miss Bachman's investigations, the writer had her 

 material under observation several times and was convinced that 

 she was working on the classical Collema pulposum (Bern.) Ach., 

 until the sexual reproductive tracts and their behavior had proved 

 to be very different from those known to exist in that lichen 

 (Cf. pi. 13, f. 1, 2, 3, and 4, with f. 5 and 6, with respect to size 

 and manner of occurrence). 



When we recall that, in these lichens imbedded in gelatinous 

 Nostoc colonies, we see with the eye only the modified algal-host 

 colonies in which the lichen lives and the fruit of the lichen, 

 and that the apothecia and the spores are much alike in several 

 different species of the Collemaceae, it does not seem strange that 

 two lichens, perfectly distinct with respect to sex organs and their 

 behavior, should have very similar apothecia and spores, and 

 should produce very similar modifications of the algal-host colo- 

 nies. But this does not justify placing plants with very different 

 types of male reproductive tracts and corresponding difference 

 in the behavior of the female reproductive tracts in the same 

 genus and species. 



During the years 1912 to 191 5, when the writer and Miss C. 

 Audrey Richards were at work on the Collemaceae of Ohio (3), 

 Miss Richards, who was doing the microscopic work, found the 

 peculiar male reproductive tracts several times in material which 

 we had previously taken for Collema pulposum (Bernh.) Ach. 

 The lichen just mentioned was also found frequently in the speci- 



1 Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory of Miami University. — XIV. 



235 



