332 THAXTER. 



The intersporal spaces are traversed by hypliae which grow radially 

 from the columella and form, outside the spores, a laj'er about 40 fi 

 thick of intricately woven filaments, which are also continuous ex- 

 ternally with the similar hyphae of the stalk. After a given sporo- 

 carp has developed, this outer la} er proceeds to organizeone or more 

 new wefts of hyphae, which may be terminal or sublateral or both, and 

 these wefts in turn organize new sporocarps in a manner similar to that 

 which has been just described (Fig. 84). The successively formed 

 sporocarps may thus be arranged in series corresponding to the suc- 

 cessive origins of these wefts; either in simple rows, or in a more 

 complicated fashion, owing to divergence from the long or radial axis. 



The stalk-portion which is often but slightly developed, shrivels and 

 separates from its point of origin, as the maturing sporocarp becomes 

 hard and sclerotic, and persists as an inconspicuous tuft of shriveled 

 filaments; the lysigenous elements above referred to having also 

 disappeared and freed the sporocarps from their lateral attachments. 



After examining a number of sporocarps w^th some care, I have 

 been unable to detect either in young or in more mature conditions 

 the peculiar subfusiform superficial hyphal terminations figured and 

 described by Patouillard, as above indicated. When fully mature 

 and freed from its attachments, the hard sclerotic sporocarp is ex- 

 ternally furfuraceous from the numerous broken projecting ends of 

 the filaments which cover it. Were the peculiarly swollen termina- 

 tions seen by Patouillard normally recognizable, their presence should 

 readily separate this species from S. coreviioides, but since it seems 

 certain that they are not always present, it is possible that the two 

 species are not specifically distinct, even though the presence of the 

 large celled evanescent pseudotissue is not mentioned in descriptions 

 of the East Indian form. The spore-measurements, as given by von 

 Hohnel, are somewhat smaller, 60-90 X 20-50 ju; the average dimen- 

 sions in the West Indian form, as I have determined them, being 95- 

 115 X 20-50 (x; the extremes 60-120 X 34-55 ju, the shorter diameter 

 being that of the distal end of the spore. The sporocarp measure- 

 ments, on the other hand, as given for S. coremioides, are 500-600 n, 

 while those of S. Dussii which I have measured are 350-450 X 300- 

 460 fx. Although the spores of the East Indian form are thus some- 

 what smaller and the sporocarps somewhat larger than in the W'est 

 Indian species, the discrepancy does not appear to be very great, as 

 compared with other instances of variation in the group. 



