454 FUNGUS-FLOE A. 



furnished with numerous stout fibrils by which the fungus 

 is attached to the ground, 3—10 cm. across ; hypothecium and 

 excipulum brown, formed of stout, septate, irregularly 

 inflated, interwoven hyphae which run out below to form 

 the rhizoids ; asci stout, cylindrical, apex truncate, 8-spored ; 

 spore? obliquely 1 -seriate, fusiform, ends rather acute, often 

 2-guttulate, hyaline, or the thick wall showing a tinge of 

 brown at maturit} r , 32-36 x 9-10 fx ; paraphyses sleDder, 

 septate, tips brown, clavate, 6-7 fx thick, more or less agglu- 

 tinated ; mixed with the paraphyses are numerous bodies us 

 long as the normal paraphyses, but stouter, clavate, with 

 thicker walls, entirely brown, and without septa. 



Elvella inflata, Schaeffer, pi. 153 (1774). 



Bkizina undulata, Fr., Obs., i. p. 161 (1815); Phil., Brit. 

 Disc, p. 40. 



On sandy soil that has been burnt, also on peat. 



Specimen in Cooke, Fung. Brit., ser. ii., n. 400, examined. 



The spores may possibly become truly 1 -septate at 

 maturity. 



Var. rhizophora. Mass. 



More or less orbicular, 2-4 cm. across, convex, even, in 

 other respects as in the typical form. 



Octospora rhizophora, Hedw., Muse. Frond., ii. t. 5, fig. A 

 (1787-1797). 



Bhizina laevigata, Fries, Syst. Myc, ii. p. 33 (1821-1830) ; 

 Phil., Brit. Disc, p. 41. 



On sandy ground, also on stumps. 



Specimen in Winter — Rab., Fung. Eur., n. 2406, exa- 

 mined. 



Hartig — The Diseases of Trees, Engl. Ed., p. 123 — says, 

 " besides these [the paraphyses], there are present numerous 

 non-septate secreting-tubes which project a little above the 

 hymenium. These are filled with a brown secretion which 

 pours over the surface as a slimy glutinous substance, swarm- 

 ing with bacteria. The bacteria also find their way between 

 the paraphyses, so that it is scarcely possible to get a culture 

 of spores that is free from them. It is these, too, which 

 induce the rapid decay and solution of the entire ascophore." 

 The ^aine author states that the present fungus is a very 

 injurious papasite, attacking the roots of young conifers and 

 other tiees, and killing them in a short time. 



