THE FIMETARIALES OF OHIO 
77 
Karsten, from the Scandinavian countries; Phillips, Plowright, Cooke, and 
Vize, from the British Isles; Zopf, Zukal, Winter, and others, from Central 
Europe, especially Germany; Saccardo and others, from Italy; Griffiths, 
Seaver, Thaxter, Harkness, Ellis & Everhart, Miss Palliser, and others, 
from North America. Although each of these regions has furnished 
species not yet reported from the others, nevertheless, there is a striking 
similarity in this portion of the flora of all the regions thoroughly studied. 
Many of the species described in this paper have never been collected 
in the field so far as is known, yet they will usually be found in abundance, 
if cultures are made in moist chambers. This is due in part to the fact 
that many people never look for them at all, but chiefly to the fact that 
many of these plants are extremely delicate and do not develop except 
under the most favorable conditions of moisture. When drouth conditions 
return, they become so collapsed and disfigured that only the most careful 
and experienced observer will recognize them. On the other hand the 
substrata on which these plants grow are collected almost invariably in a 
perfectly dry state, which is the least promising condition for their detection, 
even if present in good condition. As illustrations, Pleurage vestita and P. 
zygospora may be used. The former reported as rare in Germany, and the 
latter from Italy alone, have been found to be very common in this country. 
Some species have been found growing at an altitude of 5000 ft., 
e. g., Fimetaria bombardioides. 
METHODS 
The dry material furnished by friends or collected by the author was 
placed upon blotting paper in a Petri dish, after which it, together with 
the blotting paper, was throughly moistened. If necessary, the material 
was moistened again from time to time. This paper is based chiefly upon 
cultures made in this way between September, 1916, and July, 1917. The 
blotting paper used kept the moisture in the Petri dish more uniform and 
also served as a substratum for many of the species, especially for those 
belonging to the genera, Chaetomium and Fimetaria. Usually the material 
was examined both at the time of starting the culture and also the 
following day for specimens that might be present on the material when 
it was collected. Species of Agaricaceae which developed in abundance in 
some dishes were removed. Other writers have reported that molds gave 
them much trouble; but these did not cause the author so much trouble as 
the Algae, which usually developed in each culture. Their slow develop¬ 
ment, however, rendered them of no serious difficulty. It seemed that 
molds were more prevalent on material collected in the winter, while algae 
were more numerous upon that obtained in the summer. 
Dried specimens, as well as rough microscopic mounts, were kept for 
as many species as possible. In a few cases, where only a small number 
of plants developed for the particular species, all the material was used in 
