299. DESCRIPTION OF PODAXON PISTILLARIS. 
magna parte quoad illum perpendiculares, inarticulati, 
rectiusculi, sursum attenuati ramosique, leviter sinuosi. 
Spore numerosissime, plus minusve conglomerate, irregu- 
lariter lato-ellipticæ, brevissime v. obsolete pedicellatæ ; 
guttula globosa minima. 
The discovery of Podaxon pistillaris, an Indian plant, in 
one of the Cape de Verd islands, was perhaps scarcely to be 
expected. It differs much in colour from the more sombre 
forms of the genus which occur in Egypt and along the coast 
through Senegal to the Cape of Good Hope. The genus 
occurs also in Australia. | 
Full grown specimens only of this very curious fungus have 
been hitherto obtained, which vary a little in intensity of co- 
lour. The original specimen described by Linnæus, exists still 
in the herbarium of the Linnæan Society. In some specimens 
the stem is much more decidedly bulbous than in others ; in 
that from Porto Praya it is but slightly swollen below, and 
 mearly solid at the base, rooting slightly into the soil and 
covered with a few cottony threads. In the Linnæan 
specimen, and that figured by Greville, the stipes is very 
decidedly swollen. The colour of the spores and capillitium 
almost exactly resembles that of the substance called crocus; 
by watch makers. The fruit bearing threads are reflected from 
the stem being continued from it, and if I have seen correctly 
partly arise from ascending and partly from descending fila- 
ments; they are thick and rigid at the base, but slightly 
branched and becoming more slender above. The spores 
are collected in little pellets, amongst which are the half ab- 
sorbed remains of the primitive cellular tissue. The stem is 
clothed with broad filmy scales, as is also the pileus; but 
whether these constitute or not, in an early stage, a coat e 
the peridium, is uncertain. The stem passes completely 
_ through the capillitium, is slightly dilated at the apex, and 
has, I suspect, at an early stage, a thin inner peridium 
attached to the fructifying mass as is seen in P. carcinomatis. 
In this species the flocci appear to be inarticulate and to 
present no peculiarity of structure; but in P. carcinomalis 
