102 



I 



r 



in the museum of Rutger's College a section of the trunk of Lirioden- 

 dron having a circumference of 21 "feet. The specimen was obtained 

 at Marlborough, N. J, 



■ _ Vitality of__Gourd Seeds. — A 'remarkable case of duration of 

 vitality in the seeds of a cucurbit was mentioned by Mr. Le Roy. In 

 the Torrey collection there is a specimen of a gourd which was ob- 

 tained between the years 1838 and 1842, in Patagonia, by the Wilkes 

 Exploring Expedition. Finding three seeds still remaining in the 

 specimen, Mr. Leroy planted them in his garden. Two of, the seeds 

 germinated, and the plants are now in fruit. For want of the neces- 

 sary figures and descriptions, the species has not yet been identified. 

 Dr. T. F. Allen read a paper on the " Similarity betw^een the 

 Characeae of America and those of Asia." 



_ 83. Polypqrus volvatus, Peck, and its Varieties.— Since the 



publication of the description of this fungus in the Twenty-seventh 

 New York State Museum Report, other forms of the species have 

 come to my knowledge, and other observations have been made 

 which render some additional notice of it desirable, since it pre- 

 sents two characters which may perhaps be deemed of more 

 than mere specific value. The most conspicuous one is the remark- 

 able prolongation of the margin of the pileus. This extends beyond 

 and beneath the mouths of the pores like a thick coriaceous veil, and 

 either wholly or partly conceals them from view. In two of the vari- 

 eties* the veil opens below by a well defined circular or subellipti- 

 cal aperture, usually about one-fourth of an inch in diameter. 

 Through this aperture the spores have a way of escape, although it 

 IS so niuch smaller than the hymenial surface that it is not unusual to 

 find little heaps or even masses of spores retained within the veil 

 These heaps of spores are generally permeated by minute filaments 

 which apparently aid in holding the spores together. The aperture 

 is not exactly m the centre of the veil, but nearer the posterior than 

 the anterior surface of the fungus. The veil is a litde thicker just 

 anterior to the aperture than it is elsewhere. The thin epidermis 

 generally disappears from the veil, so that in mature specimens this 

 part IS often a little paler than the rest. If this is cut away the re- 

 maining part of the pileus is nearly hemispherical. The hymeno- 

 phore or non-porous part of the pileus, in fresh specimens, is separa- 

 ble into two parts. The exterior, which, by its continuation beyond 

 the mouths of the pores, forms the veil, may be torn away from the 

 thin interior part which lies next to and is intimately connected with 

 the pores, very much as the rind of an orange may be peeled from 

 the pulp. The thm interior stratum is also slightly prolonged beyond 

 the mouths of the pores and its prolongation forms a kind of promi- 

 nent margin to the hymenial surface. The other character is found 

 at the mouths of the pores. Not only are the dissepiments here dif- 

 ferently colored but they are also decidedly and permanently thicker 

 than they are elsewhere, thu s making the diameter of the pore much 



^ct= L ^^y'?'^ ?"^'^ '^^"''^^ r ^P^-^'^re has yet been set;n. but one probably ex- 

 ists m fully and properly developed specimens. ^ ooauiy ex 



