1916] GilTxcy: A Revision of ihe Tuberales of California 291 



nieht entwickelten Venae internae verwandelt." Pseudohalsamia, 

 as I have seen it, agrees with Fischer's description of Balsamia 

 (1897fl, p. 62), in the following points: Ascocarp knob-like, fleshy, 

 with or without basal mycelial tuft ; penetrated by numerous laby- 

 rinthine chambers (open in Pseudohalsamia) ; peridium consisting of 

 outer layer of pseudoparenchyma and inner layer of closely woven 

 hyphae, this layer continuing into the chamber walls as trama (venae 

 internae) ; chambers clothed with ascus-bearing zone consisting of 

 paraphyses arranged in more or less distinct palisade ; asci of more 

 or less unlike form, often irregularly globose or ellipsoid, often long 

 stipitate, 8-spored ; spores ellipsoid or almost cylindrical with rounded 

 ends, smooth, placed irregularly in ascus. 



The asci do not appear to lie between the paraphyses as they are 

 described for Balsamia, for the paraphyses are always developed above 

 them, but, as previously stated, the fact that the outer layer of asci, 

 i.e., the ones nearest the venae externae, have their free ends turned 

 toward the canal, would indicate a similar fundamental arrangement. 

 In the genus Hydnotrya there is apparently as much irregularity in 

 the arrangement of asci as in these two genera, for they are described 

 by Fischer (1907, p. 26) as " palissadenformig zwischen den Paraphy- 

 sen stehend oder ausserdem noch unregelmassig in dem darunterliegen- 

 den Geflechte eingebettet. " 



The "hollow" chambers of Balsamia (Fischer, 1897o, p. 62) ap- 

 parently do not hold for B. platyspora Berk, which is said {ihid., p. 

 65) to possess "oft durch Hineinwachsen der Paraphysen ausgefiill- 

 ten Kammern." The occasional presence, then, in the chambers of 

 Balsamia of hyphal structure, and the occasional absence of the same 

 in the chambers of Pseudohalsamia (see preceding description), show 

 that no distinct point of difference can be found here. 



Since Pseudohalsamia, as I have studied it, agrees witli Fischer's 

 description of Balsamia in practically every respect except the pres- 

 ence of venae externae and the absence of completely developed venae 

 internae ; and since, according to Fischer, the latter character is unim- 

 portant, a complete separation of the two into distinct phylogenetic 

 lines seems unjustifiable without definite evidence that the differences 

 are due to origin rather than development. Hydnoholites, near to 

 which Pseudohalsamia belongs according to Fischer (1908, pp. 155- 

 156), is distinguished from it by globose sculptured spores, pseudo- 

 parenchymatous lining of canals (the latter always hollow), and com- 

 plete lack of venae internae. These would seem more nearly to ap- 



