fungi. 265 



fungus, of a reddish like hue, marked on the surface of 

 the cap with darker zones, the centre becoming depressed. 

 The same woods, and those of other counties, furnished us 

 with pale encrustations on dead sticks, which a pocket 

 lens showed to be crowded with minute spines. This 

 was the Ochre Hydnuni (H. ochraceum) one of the stem- 

 less species. Several other groups belong to this order, 

 but their members are few, and scarce, and none of them 

 grace our collection. 



The fourth order of the Hymenium class is called 

 Auricularini, or Ear-fungi, and is characterised by the 

 fruit-bearing surface being straight, or nearly so. In the 

 first group, that of Craterellus, the Hymenium is straight 

 in youth, but becomes rutted in age. 



One splendid member of the group, the Cornucopia- 

 like Craterellus, rewarded my search one autumn in the 

 Chase Wood, Herefordshire. Half a foot long, and 

 measuring five inches across the opening, the elegant form 

 and sombre tints of the plants at once attracted my 

 attention. They were growing in a group of three or 

 four, near a tree root, and were everywhere shaded to 

 black {Plate XVII., fig. 19). 



In the Thelephora group the plants are scarcely more 

 than encrustations, the surface sometimes rises into 

 pimples. The ground Thelephora is brown and flattened, 

 we found it in Wiltshire. 



The Stereum group is also composed of mere thin 

 corky encrustations. A lilac felt on poplar trees is one 

 species (S. purpureum), a rich velvet pile spread on 

 stumps, or turning over in frills and lappets, and shaded 

 from orange to amber, is another species (S. hirsutum,) 



