HELVELLALES 63 



Phillips. Synopsis of the British Discomycetes. PL f-fj. 



London, 1877. 



The only list of American species, now much out of date is : 

 Cooke. Synopsis of the Discomycetous Fungi of the United 



States. Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sci. 2 : 285-300; 3 : 21-37. 1875. 



Order 14. HELVELLALES. 



The Helvellales are fleshy fungi with an ascoma open from the 

 earliest stage of its development. The asci are formed at the 

 ends of hyphae which are variously interlaced to produce an asco- 

 carp of a definite form. The asci form a definite layer and are 

 usually mingled with sterile hyphae of variously modified forms 

 (paraphyses). 



Three families are known, all well represented in America as 

 follows : 



1. Ascocarps flat or arched, stemless ; asci opening by opercula. 



Rhizinaceae. 

 Ascocarps formed of stem and ascoma, or columnar and stemless. 2. 



2. Ascoma clavate or capitate ; asci opening by a terminal pore. 



Geoglossaceae. 

 Ascoma conic or pileate ; asci opening by opercula. Helvellaceae. 



The Rhizinaceae contain two genera of rather unusual species 

 and form a link with the cup-fungi of the preceding order. They 

 may be separated as follows : 



Ascoma fleshy, flattish, smooth beneath. PsiLOPEZlA. 



Ascoma arched with root-like fibrils beneath. RHIZINA. 



The second family, the Geoglossaceae, are represented in 

 America by nine genera, and form yellow, green or black club- 

 like forms ranging from less than an inch to three inches in 

 height. They are commonly terrestrial, growing in rich leaf 

 mould, or often on decaying logs. Superficially they resemble 

 some of simple club fungi (Clavariaceae) with which indeed the 

 earlier mycologists united them. A section, however, readily dis- 

 closes the spores borne in asci while in the Clavariaceae the spores 

 are borne externally on basidia. 



The American genera may be separated as follows : 



