BY J. B. CLELAND AND E. CHEEL. 855 



Three of these were placed in cow-dung covered with watch- 

 glasses, and kept moist. After 16 days, each sclerotium pro- 

 duced a white, mealy projection, which at first developed very 

 slowly, but after several days showed more rapid growth, and a 

 distinct differentiation into pileus and stipes was noticeable. 

 Two weeks later, the sporophore was fully grown, and, in 24 

 hours, the pileus opened out into 9 rays, and the plant elongated 

 very rapidly. 



The outer coating of the sclerotium is thin, and dark or 

 nearly black in colour, and the inner substance is whitish, evi- 

 dently composed of closely woven hyphse. Pileus cylindrical at 

 first, pallid or pale grey, very mealy, about 2|-4 lines long, and 

 1^-2 lines in diameter, splitting at length into rays, which are 

 striate, and become a darker grey at maturity. Gills few, at 

 first white but soon dissolving into a black, inky fluid. Stem, 

 under natural conditions, very slender and comparatively smooth; 

 but, under artificial culture, about i line thick, and more or less 

 covered with a mealy substance, which somewhat resembles silky 

 down. When fully matured, it elongates very rapidly, reaching 

 a length of about 2^ inches, and is quite smooth and glabrous 

 in the upper part, but still retains the silky down in the lower 

 part. Spores elliptical, 8-10 x 4-5/x. 



We have collected this species, which resembles somewhat the 

 figures of C. tomentosus and C. iiiveus, on three other occasions, 

 but have, in only one of these cases, found the attached sclero- 

 tium. One of these was collected on rich soil at Neutral Bay, 

 in June, 1913. The cap was conical greyish from fine particles, 

 and striate. Stem white, 1| inches long, spores 8 5-10 x 5-2/jt. 

 The second was on a dunged garden at Neutral Bay, in April, 

 1915. The cap appeared as if covered with a fine, grey felt. 

 There was a long, black root. Spores 104 x 5-5/a. 'J'he third 

 specimen was collected in the same garden in December, 1915, 

 attached to a black sclerotium, the size of a pea; which, on sec- 

 tion, was whitish. The pileus was bluntly conical, | inch 

 high and | inch broad, covered with a grey tomentum, and finely 

 striate. Stem 1| inches high, white, finely fibrous. Gills very 

 crowded, blackish, ascending, adnexed, covered, before expan- 



