328 



Mycologia 



the variable character of that species it could hardly be made to 

 include a form with stellate lime-crystals. The capillitium and 

 spores resemble those of Mucilago, but it is evidently removed 

 from that genus by its habit and structure. Among the species 

 of Didymium, the only one approaching it in color appears to be 

 D. leoninum, but otherwise the two forms have no features in 

 common. On the whole, the present species appears to stand 

 by itself in the genus Didymium, but with decided leanings 

 toward Lepido derma, and even toward Mucilago. 



Echinostelium minutum DeBary. This species occurred 

 on dead herbaceous stems in a laboratory culture in Professor 

 Thaxter's laboratory at Cambridge, Mass., in December, 1914. 

 The material came from Waverly, Mass. Although this appears 

 to be the first record of its appearance in America, the species 

 may not be uncommon. Its small size and its resemblance to a 

 Mucor or some Hyphomycetous fungus might easily cause it to 

 be overlooked. 2 



Amaurochaete fuliginosa (Sow.) Macbr. This species has 

 been reported hitherto in the United States only from New Eng- 

 land, New York, Carolina, and Ohio. In 1909, Mr. Bethel col- 

 lected it on dead wood of Pinus Murray ana at Tolland, Colorado, 

 thus extending its range westward. 



In the Cryptogamic Herbarium of Harvard University there 

 is a specimen from Professor Macbride marked "Amaurochaete 

 cribrosa (Fr.)," collected on Mt. Rainier, Washington. It is 

 very different from A. fuliginosa, consisting of a round, de- 

 terminate, sooty patch of ill-developed sporangia showing weak, 

 indefinite, membranous columellae and a capillitium composed 

 of very delicate, more or less arcuate threads connecting angular 

 or elongated membranous expansions, the whole forming a very 

 open and imperfect net with many free ends. The spores are 

 rather dark, minutely spinulose, paler and smoother on one side, 

 and measure 12-15^ in diameter. They are slightly larger and 

 darker than those of A. fuliginosa. A precisely similar form 

 was collected by Mr. A. P. D. Piguet at Sharon, Mass., in May, 

 1910, on bark of Pinus Strobus. 



2 Since writing the above, a gathering of Echinostelium has been re- 

 ported to me by Mr. Bilgram, of Philadelphia, who found it growing in the 

 open, in com'pany with Tihnadoche. 



