CLUSTER-CUPS^ 11 



more or less infected in the spring of the year; 

 and at length, if we persevere, the anemone 

 cluster-cup {JEcidium leucospermum) will be our 

 reward (plate I. figs. 4 — 6). The specific name 

 will suggest one point of difference between the 

 two fungi, as in this instance the spores are white, 

 and somewhat elliptic. Probably this species is 

 not common, as we have found it but seldom, 

 though often in search of it. A nearly allied 

 species has been found on Anemones in gardens, 

 having but few large teeth about the orifice, though 

 not constantly four, as the name would indicate 

 (2E. quadrifidum) . 



A walk through almost any wood, in the spring 

 of the year, will reward the mycologist with 

 another cluster-cup (JEcidium), in which the 

 peridia are scattered over the whole surface of 

 the leaf. This will be found on the wood spurge, 

 giving a sickly yellowish appearance to the leaves, 

 on the under-surface of which it is found. By 

 experience one may soon learn to suspect the 

 occurrence of parasites of this nature on leaves, 

 from the peculiar exhausted and unhealthy appear- 

 ance which they assume as the spores ripen, and 

 which will spare the labour of turning over the 

 leaves when there are no distinct spots on the 

 upper surface. M. Euphorbios is found on several 

 species of Eupliorbium or spurge, but we have 

 always found it most abundantly on the wood 

 spurge in the Kentish woods between Dartford 



