IV. 0.1025 gram of the substance yielded 0.0659 gram of argentic chloride. V. 0.1015 gram of the substance yielded 0.0656 gram of argentic chloride. Attempts were made to make similar compounds of butyric acid without success. Various different proportions, suggested by those required in the previous preparations, were tried with equal failure, and the attempts were finally discontinued. It was also hoped that such compounds as Cu(NH ̧),CINO, and Cu(NH),NO. CHO, might be found. The results of a great many experiments showed that under ordinary conditions nothing but Cu(NH3)2Cl2, or Cu(NH),(NO), can be obtained. Further attempts to combine cupriammonium sulphate with cupriammonium acetate were also unsuccessful; so that in these directions the field seems to be limited. All of these facts, as well as the relative properties of those compounds which have been prepared, may be of some use in the future when the structure of the cupriammonium compounds comes under consideration. Work upon the subject, as well as upon similar investigation of products containing amines instead of ammonia, is being continued here. CAMBRIDGE, MASS., September 20, 1894. XX. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE CRYPTOGAMIC LABORATORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. XXVI. NOTES ON LABOULBENIACEE, WITH BY ROLAND THAXTER. Presented November 23, 1894. LABOULBENIA PILOSELLA Robin. (Traité du Microscope, p. 912, Fig. 285.) Through the kindness of Professor Giard the existence of a species bearing this name has been brought to the writer's attention, and an examination of the figure which accompanies its description leaves little doubt of its identity with the form described by the writer on European specimens of the genus Lathrobium under the name Acanthomyces brevipes. The plant figured by Robin is said by him to occur on a member of the same genus, and his drawing, though coarse, corresponds so closely in essentials that the two may be considered synonymous. In selecting the name Acanthomyces, however, the writer was not aware of its previous use by Lebert in a zoological publication, the Acanthomyces aculeata* of this writer having escaped the notice of compilers in recent years. In view of this fact a new designation for the genus of Laboulbeniaceæ becomes necessary, and the writer would suggest for this purpose the name Rhachomyces, from the resemblance which the main axis of these plants bears to a vertebral column. The new name will therefore include the six described species, Rhachomyces longissimus, R. lasiophorus, R. hypogaus, R. Lathrobi, R. furcatus, and R. pilosellus (Robin), to which may be added a seventh form, parasitic, like R. hypogaus, on a blind cave beetle. *Zeitschr. f. wissensch. Zoologie, 1858, Vol. IX. p. 447. RHACHOMYCES nov. nom. = ACANTHOMYCES THAXTER. RHACHOMYCES SPELUNCALIS, nov. sp. Perithecium more or less deeply suffused with brown; short and stout, with a broad bluntly rounded apex. Receptacle slender, the main axis constricted strongly at the septa, its cells rather small, the basal slender and cylindrical; the remainder, about nine in number, all evenly and rather deeply suffused with brown, and more or less uniform in size. Appendages mostly opaque, more or less rigid, hyaline-tipped, those surrounding the base of the perithecium hardly equalling it in length, a few lower on the receptacle exceeding its apex by the whole length of the plant: of the shorter median appendages some are terminated by a peculiarly modified partly hyaline (antheridial?) cell, the neck-like tip of which curves strongly outwards, terminating bluntly. Perithecia 90 × 37 μ. Receptacle about 110 (when not proliferous). Longest appendages 300 μ. Total length to tip of perithecium 185 μ to 260 μ (in proliferous forms). On Anophthalmus pusio Horn. West Virginia. The smallest species of the genus, more nearly allied to R. lasiophorus in the form of its perithecium and the disposition of its appendages around the base of the latter. It is quite distinct, however, from any of the described species. DIPLOMYCES, nov. gen. Flattened antero-posteriorly, sub-triangular, bilaterally symmetrical, furcate through the presence of a pair of prominent posterior projections. The receptacle consisting of two superposed cells, followed by four cells placed antero-posteriorly in pairs, of which the posterior produce the characteristic prominences; the anterior a pair of short stalked perithecia, near the base of which, within and above, arise two or more pairs of appendages, and eventually a second pair of perithecia. Appendages copiously branched, many of the branchlets terminated by beak-like cells. Spores once-septate. A singular genus, recalling Teratomyces, to which it seems most nearly allied through the presence of the characteristic terminal beaklike cells of its appendages. The branching of the latter is not, however, sympodial in a single plane, as is the case in Teratomyces, and the general structure of the receptacle is difficult to homologize with that of any other genus. The second pair of perithecia arise in all probability from secondary divisions of the pair of perithecia-bearing cells above described; but the exact structure in this region, behind the stalk cells of the perithecia, has not been made out satisfactorily. An obliquity in the septum which separates the basal and sub-basal cells sometimes results in the apparent absence of any sub-basal cell. DIPLOMYCES ACTOBIANUS, nov. sp. More or less faintly tinged with brownish. Basal cell of receptacle triangular, sub-basal cell flattened or wedge-shaped; the posterior prominences peculiar to the genus nearly as long as the receptacle itself, slightly divergent, two-celled, the terminal cell twice as long as the basal, tapering slightly towards its rounded extremity. On the anterior side the two perithecigerous cells bear the first pair of perithecia on short stalk-cells bent abruptly upwards, divergent, and succeeded by three small cells forming the base of the perithecium. The perithecia rather slender, curved towards the receptacle so that their tips project beyond it, divergent, rather long and slender, tapering slightly, the apex blunt with ill defined lips, the base of the old trichogyne persisting conspicuously below the pore. Appendages branching, arranged in pairs symmetrically like the perithecia; a smaller one arising just behind the stalk cell of the perithecium, a much larger one above this followed by a few smaller ones less definitely arranged in the region whence a second pair of perithecia may arise. All the appendages more or less copiously branched, the branchlets terminating in many cases by the slender, curved and sharply pointed cells characteristic of Teratomyces. Spores 32 × 2 μ. Perithecia, including stalks, about 75 x 12 μ. Receptacle to tips of prominences 75 μ. Total length to tip of perithecia 110 μ. Greatest width 37 p. On Actobius nanus Horn. Massachusetts. This species occurs rather rarely on the abdomen of a large brown variety of Actobius nanus, but not as far as has been observed on the normal form. A second form, perhaps distinct from the present, was found on the abdomen of a small Philonthus, and is distinguished by the presence of slender thread-like branches from the larger appendages. Sufficient material of this form was not, however, obtained, and it may prove to be nothing more than a variety of the one above described. SPHALEROMYCES OCCIDENTALIS, nov. sp. More or less evenly tinged with brownish. Perithecium large, subfusiform, with faintly defined ridges at the divisions between the wall cells, the apex made externally oblique through the outgrowth of one of the lip cells which forms a pointed projection beyond the pore; the stalk cell wholly free, tapering to a narrow base, and about as long as the receptacle proper. Receptacle small, pointed below, its sub-basal cell united throughout its length to the basal cell of the appendage, its basal and sub-basal cells separated by a horizontal septum. The appendage straight, rigid, tapering, composed of a series of usually four superposed cells separated by oblique partitions, and bearing short branches with flask-shaped antheridia from their upper inner angles. Perithecia 200 x 45 μ. Length to tip of perithecia 350 μ. Length to tip of appendage 200 μ. Length of receptacle 55 μ. On Pinophilus densus Lec. Utah. με με The occurrence of a second well marked species, abundantly distinct from the type, serves to settle any doubts which may have existed concerning the validity of this genus. The present form was found on the abdomen of its host, and is readily distinguished from S. Lathrobii by the peculiarly modified tip of its perithecium, as well as by other important differences. LABOULBENIA HAGENI, nov. sp. More or less deeply tinged with brown. Perithecium slightly inflated, tapering to the blunt outwardly oblique apex, which is blackened below the hyaline lips. Appendages arising from an outer and an inner basal cell, the outer of which is followed by a squarish cell of about the same size, from the end of which project four rather short, rigid, slightly divergent hyaline branches, which taper to blunt tips, and, as a rule, hardly exceed the tip of the perithecium: the inner basal cell gives rise to two squarish cells, one on either side, each of which bears usually a pair of branches similar to those just described. Receptacle short and stout, normal in form, the lower portion of the basal cell hyaline. Perithecia 55 x 18 μ. Appendages (longest) 65 μ. Total length to tip of perithecium 100 μ. On Termes bellicosus var. Mozambica Hagen. Africa. The occurrence of a most typical and decidedly insignificant looking species of this genus on a larva of the worker of a species of white ant is certainly quite unexpected in view of the wide difference which exists between this Neuropterous host and the usual insects infested by the genus. But for the four stiff branches arising from the subbasal cell of the outer appendage, and suggesting the roots of a molar tooth, it would be difficult to specify its distinguishing characters. The species is dedicated to the memory of the late Professor Hagen, |