2 
Mycolocia 
material derived from these cultures showed the spores to be 
globose and at maturity perfectly and distinctly reticulate, the 
ridges of the reticulations extending beyond the periphery of the 
spore as minute spines. 
After a comparative study of the spores of the two specimens of 
Ascodesniis, the one grown on the excrement of pigs from Porto 
Rico and the other on the excrement of raccoon dog from the 
Zoological Garden, it was decided that they represented two dis- 
tinct species. 
So far as noted, the external characters of the two plants were 
identical. The apothecia appeared on a superficial mycelium and 
consisted of a tuft of asci without any well-developed excipulum. 
The form and size of the apothecia in the two species is almost 
identical. The spores of the Porto Rican species are slightly 
ellipsoid, although they would pass as subglobose. The chief dif- 
ference is in the spore markings, those of the Porto Rican species 
consisting of tubercles or short interrupted ridges. In addition 
to this, these spores are often marked with an irregular ridge of 
meridial band which may be simple of occasionally branched. 
Since several hundred spores have been examined and these char- 
acters found to be constant and decidedly different from those of 
Ascodesmis nigricans, the Porto Rican specimens are regarded as 
new and described as Ascodesmis porcina. The differences in 
spore characters are shown in the accompanying plate. The fol- 
lowing is a synopsis of the genus as at present known for North 
America. 
ASCODESMIS Van Tiegh. Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 23: 271. 1876 
Apothecia minute, less than i mm. in diameter, very simple, 
consisting of a cluster of asci and paraphyses springing from a 
clump of basal mycelium; excipulum almost entirely undeveloped ; 
asci comparatively few to each plant, very broad, 8-spored ; spores 
globose or subglobose, hyaline, then pale-brown to blackish, be- 
coming rough at maturity ; paraphyses sparse. 
Type species, Ascodesmis nigricans Van Tiegh. 
Spores globose, reticulated. 
Spores subglobose, rough but not reticulated. 
A. microscopica. 
A. porcina. 
