Waite: Tue NipuLaRIACEAE oF NortH America 255 
Peridium composed of one homogeneous layer; spores not mixed with filaments. 
IT. CRucrIBULUM. 
Sporangioles not attached to the inner wall of the peridium, 
Peridium thick, opening by a regular definite mouth, III, NrpuLa. = A’ 
Peridium thin, rupturing irregularly. IV. GRANULARIA. 
I. Cyaruia P. Br., Civ. and Nat. Hist. Jamaica, 78. 1756 
Cyathus Hall. Stirp. Helvet. 3: 127. 1768 
Peridium composed of three distinct but closely connected 
layers. Mouth at first closed by a membrane (epiphragm), usu- 
ally white, opening at maturity; sporangioles flattened, umbilicate 
beneath, attached to the inner wall of the peridium by a complex 
elastic cord (funiculus), and with thick horny filaments intermixed 
with the spores. 
Clusius,* in 1601, made the first mention of a Cyathia under 
the name of fungus minimus avdyuyoc, and described it in Latin, 
the following being a free translation of the entire paragraph: 
“Moreover this fungus, which I will call anonymous, is very dif- 
ferent from the preceding ones, and I consider it to be the smallest 
of all, for it is barely half an inch high, In the fall a great many 
Stow, without petiole, on wooden boards away from dust and sand. 
They have the color of cinders or are of a lifeless color. The shape; 
Which is so small, appears to be undeveloped, scarcely as large 
and as thick as the top of a little finger. Sometimes they grow 
alone or when in numbers two, three or four adhering together, 
oe when ripe, they throw off the top part and appear full of a 
“iscous juice, and of seeds which are about the size of the seeds of 
cyclamen, but have the outline of small fungi and are apparently 
“inder-colored. There ‘is no doubt that this fungus grows in 
ie: ly, for I remember that a friend of mine sent me, once upon a 
time from there, some of these seeds, dried and with a certain 
strange name, asking me if I could find out what they were. For 
f cre are Certain characters who endeavor to catch and buy praise 
rom the ignorance of others.” 
here seem to be no intermediate references to this plant until 
1671, when Bauhin + mentioned “ Fungus minimus lignelis tabellis 
*reolarum hortorum adnascens.” Mentzel,} in 1682 first figured 
* 
ae Plant. Hist. cclxxxvii, 1601. 
ewe Lib. X., Sec. 5, no. 39, 374. 1671. 
- Nom. Plant. Univ. pl. 6. 1682, 
owe po ay 
w lexi t 
ate ; 
Miqufay/'g 
