GEOPYXIS. 385 



thin, fragile, glabrous, translucent, varying from pale straw- 

 colour to nearly tawny, 1 cm. or more across, externally 

 marked with fine lines radiating from the stem ; excipulum 

 composed entirely of uniform, densely interwoven hyphae, a 

 narrow zone at the base of the asci brownish, remainder 

 hyaline ; stem 2-3 cm. long, 2-3 mm. thick, tapering down- 

 wards, mostly buried ; asci cylindrical, 8-spored ; spores 1- 

 seriate, hyaline, smooth, continuous, elliptical, ends obtuse, 

 12-15 X 7-8; paraphyses hyaline, filiform, tips very slightly 

 thickened. 



Peziza rapulum, Bull., Champ. Fr., p. 265, t. 485, fig. 2 ; 

 Cooke, Mycogr., fig. 197; Phil., Brit. Disc, p. 50. 



On the ground among pine leaves, &c. Spring. 



Specimen determined by Berkeley and figured by Cooke 

 in Mycographia, fig. 197, examined. 



The stem is rooting and the greater part buried in the 

 ground or among leaves, the buried portion is fibrillose, or, 

 according to Holmskiold, Fung. Danicis, ii. p. 24, t. 9, densely 

 clothed with ferruginous down. 



Gillet — Disc. France, p. 38, with fig. — has figured the 

 present species springing from an elongated, blackish 

 sclerotium about 1 cm. long ; if this be the true plant, it will 

 have to be placed in the genus Sclerotinia, with which it 

 agrees more closely in general structure than with Geopyxis. 



Geopyxis ammophila. Sacc, Syll., viii. n. 238. 



Ascophore stipitate, at first subglobose with a small 

 aperture, then more or less turbinate, and the margin irregu- 

 larly split, at this stage 2 ■ 5-3 * 5 cm. across, finally expand- 

 ing and becoming almost plane and up to 6 cm. across, fleshy 

 and very brittle ; externally pale brown, covered with 

 particles of sand adhering to the gelatinised outer cells; 

 cortical cells irregularly polygonal, 9-18 //, diameter; disc 

 brown ; stem 3-5 cm. long, 4—6 mm. thick above, simple, or 

 with 2-3 short branches ; usually buried in the sand ; asci 

 cylindrical, apex rounded, 8-spored ; spores obliquely uni- 

 seriate, elliptical, smooth, hyaline, continuous, 15-20 X 

 8-10 jx; paraphyses not numerous, slender, unbranched, 

 slightly thickened upwards. 



Peziza ammophila, D. & M., Fl. Alger., t. 25, fig. 2 ; Cooke, 

 Mycogr., figs. 100 (copied from Flor. Alg.) & 373; Phil., 



vol. iv. 2 c 



