Order Hymenomtcetes. Tiibe Tremellini. 



Plate LIII. 



EXIDIA AURICULA JUD^, nnn.us. 



Judas s Ears. 



Gen. Char. Keceptacle margined gelatinous tremulous disteuded homogeneous, covered above only with the 

 hymenium. Spores at length bursting forth elastically. Name from Exudo, to exude. 



Spec. CItar. Exidia aueictjla Jud^. Sessile, concave, distended, flexuous, venoso-plicate without and 

 within, beneath subtomentose, olive cinereous or reddish brown ; the upper substance corrugated, the plaits branching 

 from the middle part where they are deepest, and somewhat convoluted, so as to give an idea of a human ear. 

 Exidia am-icula Judae, Fries, BerMey. 



Themella , Limutus, Persoon. 



Peziza auricula, Linnceus, Bulliard, Witherintj. 



Eab. On living elder trees ; seldom on any other. Early autumn and winter. 



In a former notice of the Exidias, while describing Exidia glandulosa in particular, the main difference 

 was pointed out between that sub-division of the tribe Tremellini, and another subdivision, Tremella, in 

 the restricted sense of the word. The present subject differs greatly from Exidia glandulosa, having much 

 more substance ; it has the appearance of a confluent mass of Pezizas, each ear-shaped cup being deep with 

 well-defined margins, often couniveut or bending inwards, always collapsing in that du-ectiou in old age or 

 when drying up ; whereas the thin gelatinous membrane called " witches' butter," falls laxly outwards, con- 

 cealing the inferior surface. For tliis reason everybody wiU at once understand, when the hymenium of 

 Exidias is stated to be on the upper surface only, in contradiction to the sac-formed marginless Tremellas, 

 which have it all over them, that it is the sliining, black, papillate side of the membrane, always uppermost, 

 and often convex, in Exidia glandulosa ; in that example, mistake cannot be. In the Exidia Auricula Judce 

 the case is different, the said " superior " hymenium being the lining of the cup, wliich the ignorant might 

 suppose " inferior," when the outside closes pretty nearly over it, as in a very dry state it often does. It has 

 been remarked that " when growing on a perpendicular tree the plant turns upwards : " this E. glandulosa 

 does not, and the papiUee so distinctly visible on its hymenium are wanting in that of Judas's Ears. 

 That is the correct name, not Jew's Ears, as commonly given. There is an ancient tradition that it was 

 upon an elder tree Judas hanged himself, and that the fungus sprouted out in consequence : the authority 

 for this has escaped our memory, but a friend, whiHng away a wet day, unexpectedly came upon a corrobo- 

 ration of this legend in the last place a lady's research was hkely to have invaded: — 



SaUades cent diuersitez, de cresson, de hobelon, de la comUe a I'euesque, de responses, d'aiu'eiUes de 

 ludas (c'est une forme de funges, yssans des vieux suzeaulx). — Rabelais. Pantagruel, Liv. iv. Chap. Ix. 



