358 Rev. M. J. Berkeley on British Fungi. 



stance rufous; asci oblong-elliptic, containing eight globose spores, 

 reticulated but not echinulate. In the centre of each reticulation 

 there is a single globule. 



This species so closely resembles Balsamia vulgaris, at least 

 when dry, that without microscopic examination it is difficult to 

 distinguish it. The walls of the cells have the same pubescent 

 covering, which in the present case seems to arise from the ad- 

 mission of air, and is in fact, though blanched from its internal 

 situation, of the same nature as that which clothes the outer surface, 

 there being no true peridium. The asci and sporidia are however 

 very different, and bring the plant much nearer to the true Truffles. 

 Till a late period of growth the sporidia are much like those of 

 Picoa, being colourless, globose and smooth, with a large nucleus ; 

 but they gradually acquire au irregular outer surface, and are at 

 length reticulated, but not as far as I have seen echinulate, and 

 of a fine brick-red. It is perhaps one of the finest species of 

 hjrpogseous Fungi, differing remarkably from H. cerebriformiSj of 

 which I have specimens, in its highly coloured surface and in the 

 smooth sporidia. Messrs. Tulasne, to whom I have dedicated the 

 species, at once pronounced it to belong to their recently proposed 

 genus Hydnobolites. 



Balsamia jYiii. "Uterus mollis sessilis arrhizus, semper clausus, 

 celluloso-camosus. Asci oblongi membranacei pedicellati octo- 

 spori, cellularum parietibus immersi ac seriatim dispositi. Spo- 

 ridia cylindracea, Isevia, pellucida.^^ — Vitt. 1. c. p. 30. 



318. B. platyspora, n. s. Minor globosa rufa, minute verru- 

 cosa ; substantia pallide flava, minute cellulosa ; sporidiis primum 

 latiusculis oblongo-ellipticis, nucleo globoso magno, demum leviter 

 elongatis nucleis tribus. Rudloe, October to December, C. E» 

 Broome, Esq. 



Globose, about the size of a horse-bean, rufous, with the inter- 

 stices of the minute warts of a light yellow tint, from the exposure 

 of the internal substance. Cells minute ; sporidia at first broadly 

 oblongo-elliptic with a large globose nucleus and a number of 

 minute granules ; in a specimen found in December the sporidia 

 were slightly elongated, with one large and two small nucleic 

 Smell strong. 



Assuming Tulasne's Balsamia polyspora to be the true plant 

 of Vittadini, the specimens described above must constitute a di- 

 stinct species. The sporidia are much larger and of a different 

 form. In the older plant I do not find them so long as in that of 

 Messrs. Tulasne, and the nuclei are very remarkable. It is right 

 to remark, that Messrs. Tulasne's plant was not determined on a 

 comparison of authentic specimens ; therefore, though I have no 

 doubt of the distinctness of my plant from theirs, I am not with- 

 out doubts as toVittadini^s synonym. Balsamia vulgaris, of which 



