Sordaria superior (Griffiths) Sacc. & D. Sacc. 1905

Pleurage superior D. Griff. Mem. Torrey Club 11 : 68. 1901
Sordaria superior Sacc. Syll. Fung. 17 : 603. 1905.
Perithecia superficial, scattered, thin, membranaceous, brown and somewhat transparent to black and opaque in age, pyriform with short, papilliform, curved or erect beak, about 450 X 600 /^ ; the whole perithecium covered with short, blunt, septate, brown, hyalinetipped, bristle-like hairs which are uniformly distributed over the entire surface with the exception of a small area around the ostiolum ; asci 8-spored, clavate, contracted and rounded above and tapering below into a long, rather slender, crooked stipe, 250-275 X 30-40 ^, evanescent ; paraphyses somewhat ventricose, tapering upward and becoming filiform above, much longer than the asci and not mixed with them ; spores 2-seriate, 4 and 4 or 2 and 6, ellipsoid, 27-32 X 53-60 z^, ranging from hyaline when young through olivaceous to dark-brown and opaque ; primary appendage clavate and slightly shorter than the spore ; secondary appendages very long and attached to the distal end of the primary and excentrically to the apex of the spore, the upper one larger than the lower, each made up of 2 distinct parts closely united, and each of these in turn showing longitudinal striations which indicate still finer subdivisions.
On cow dung.
Type locality : Summit, Montana.
Distribution: Known only from the type locality.