Apr., May, 1888.] 
HYPOXYLON AND NUMMULARTA. 
on 
b. Perithecia stratose. 
IIypoxylon ovintjm, Perk.— Grev., XI, p. 129. On wood, Orizaba, 
Mexico. Hemispheric or confluent-elongated, dark purple, hard, smooth, 
subshining, dark within ; perithecia stratose, black, subglobose; ostiola 
obsolete; asci cylindrical; sporidia elliptical, dark, 16—18 x 7 P-. 
IIypoxylon Petersii, B. & C.—Journ. Linn. Soc., X, p. 384. On 
rotten oak. Alabama (Peters), on dead wood ; Cuba (Wright); on oak 
logs, Ohio and Kentucky (Morgan). Stroma pulvinate, depressed-ob- 
conic, centrally attached with aspreading margin,3—4x21—3 cm. across, 
covered at first by a thick, coriaceo-membranaceous veil which soon dis¬ 
appears except around the margin ; substance corky-fibrous, hard, dull 
umber color, becoming darker outside; perithecia crowded in several 
layers, subglobose or subelongated, £—£ mm., with slender necks ending 
in distinctly prominent papilliform ostiola; sporidia uniseriate or subbi- 
seriate above, narrowly-elliptical, brown, 6—8 x 31—4 ! J - ; asci cylindrical 
(p. sp.), about 40 x 5 !'■ or including the slender base 60 P long. 
The foregoing description is from Morgan’s Ohio specimens, which 
have been compared by Dr. Farlow with specimens in Herb. Curtis. In 
the original description, in Linn. Journ., no mention is made of the thick, 
membranaceous veil, which is a striking and unusual character. 
II. Splueroxylon. Stroma superficial, globose or subglobo.se. 
a. Externally colored, not black. 
IIypoxylon coccineum, Bull. ( Sphaeria fragiformis , Pers.)—Stroma 
erumpent-superficial, subglobose, generally from l —£ cm. in diameter, 
deep brick-red when mature, often paler when young, solitary or subcon¬ 
tinent; perithecia peripheric in a single layer, small, subglobose, slightly 
prominent; asci cylindrical, spore-bearing part 70- 80 x 6—7 /*, paraphyses 
abundant, simple; sporidia uniseriate, opaque, inequilateral-elliptical, 
10—12 x 4—5 /'-. Generally on bark of dead beech trees, but also on oak, 
willow, birch and some other trees. Common throughout the United 
States and Canada as well as in Europe. This and the next species are 
often accompanied by an abnormal growth ( Institale acariforme, Fr.) con¬ 
sisting of a spreading fringe of somewhat flattened, ochraceous or rust 
colored, more or less branched processes surrounding the base of the 
stroma and about equal in length to its diameter and bearing an abund¬ 
ance of very minute, obovate, subhyaline conidia. Whether this should 
be considered the true conidial stage of the Hypoxylon is doubtful, as its 
occurrence is exceptional. The case is in some respects analogous to that 
of Sphceria fiabelliformis , Schw., and the Xylaria from which it springs, 
but with this difference: the affected Xylaria is always abortive, while 
the Hypoxylon surrounded with its conidial fringe matures its fruit. 
Hypoxylon Howeianum, Pk.—24th Hep. N. Y. State Mus , p. 98. 
On dead limbs of deciduous trees. X. Y. (Peck), on Ostrya Virginica; 
Iowa (Holway), on dead standing shrubs and fallen limbs of oak; N. J. 
(Ellis), on dead limbs; Pennsylvania (Everhart & Rau.); Ohio (Morgan); 
