7REMELLALES 



95 



Order 4. TREMELLALES. 



This order, which contains the greater portion of the gelatinous 

 fungi, is composed of two small tropical families each containing 

 a single genus, in addition to the widely distributed Tremellaceae. 

 The members of this family are made up of soft watery gelatinous 

 masses ranging in color from white and pink to orange-yellow or 

 black. A common white species often forms extensive masses on 

 old stumps ; a common yellow one with brain-like folds is found 

 in smaller masses on hemlock in the Northern States and on dead 

 branches of various sorts in the South. A common black species, 

 Exidia g/andu/osa, forms extensive flattish patches on dead 

 branches. All of these forms dry down to a thin film, but most 

 will revive again when moistened. 



The American genera may be distinguished as follows : 



1. Forming a thin smoothish crust, witli mould-like conidiophores. 



Sehacina. 



, Thick, gelatinous, smooth, plicate or with brain-like convolutions. 2. 



Plicate, with teeth underneath. Tremellodon. 



Funnel-shaped with the hymenium inferior. Gyrocephalus. 



2. Blackish, smooth or slightly plicate, papillate; conidia* hook-shaped. 



Exidia. 



Yellowish-brown, foliaceous ; conidia straight, capitate. Ulocolla. 



Yellowish or wliitish widi brain-like convolutions or folds ; conidia 



yeast-like. " Tremella. 



Ulocolla foliacea forms large pale brownish foliaceous masses 

 growing in the vicinity of stumps. One of the species of Tremella 

 occasionally occurs as a parasite on the stalks or pileus of agarics. 

 T7-emellodon is a clear crystalline structure resembling a Ifyd- 

 miDi ; in fact several of the tremelline forms, particularly those 

 of tropical regions, seem to simulate forms of the higher cori- 

 aceous or fleshy species of the Agaricales. Very few of our 

 species are either well known or well characterized, though many 

 of them are quite common. They offer an interesting field for 

 some enthusiastic and careful investigator. 



LITERATURE. 



Saccardo. Sylloge Fungorum, 6: 772-796; 9: 257-259; 11: 

 146-149. 



* These are formed at the gemiination of the ordinary spores. 



