HYSTERANGIACEAE 19 



The only other record of Hysterangium in the eastern United States is H. sloloni- 

 fcrum var. amcricanum Fitzpatrick. We have compared material sent us by Dr. 

 Fitzpatrick with our Chapel Hill //. clathroides and find that the two disagree in size, 

 peridial structure, and in the much more myceloid basal attachment of the latter plant. 



For a detailed comparison see notes under Dr. Fitzpatrick's plant. 



Illustrations: Bucholtz. Beitrage zur Morphologie und Systematik der Hypogaeen (Tuberaceen und 

 Gastromyceten), pi. 1, fig. 16. 1902. 

 Fries, Th. C. E. Sveriges Gasteromycetcr, fig. 9. 

 Hesse. Die Hypogaeen Deutschlands 1: pi. 1, figs. 1-14; pi. 7, fig. 19. 

 Rehsteiner. Bot. Zeit. 50: figs. 7-11. 1892. 

 Tulasne. Fungi Hypogaei, pi. 2, fig. II-II4. 

 Vittadini. Monog. Tub., pi. 4, fig. 2. 



7416. On very rich, nearly bare soil by Bowlin's Creek, July IS, 1924. 

 7435. On soil near Meeting of Waters, July 19, 1924. 

 7490. Under soil and humus by branch, Aug. 9, 1924. 

 7496. On soil by Fern Walk, Aug. 10, 1924. 



7501. Under beech trees, Aug. 14, 1924. Spores elliptic with distal end often pointed, 5.5-6.8 x 14-20m, 

 with prongs at the proximal end. 



Hysterangium pompholyx Tul. 



Plate 105 



Largest plants up to 1.5 cm. thick, subspherical, rooted by branched fibrils. Per- 

 idium 180-260/4 thick, not readily separable from the gleba, covered externally with a 

 white myceloid layer to which particles of sand and trash adhere in abundance, giving 

 the surface a mottled appearance; in section composed of an inner layer made up of 

 parenchyma-like cells and the outer myceloid part of loosely woven, clamp-connected 

 threads, 3-7/i thick, which are heavily encrusted with triangular or rosette-shaped 

 crystals. Gleba toughish-pliable, pale buff when young, becoming darker and finally 

 brown upon maturity; quite often with a fairly distinct, hyaline, sterile base which 

 passes up irregularly toward the center, branching out into the hyaline tramal plates. 

 Cavities rounded to elongated, often sinuous. 



Spores 6.6-7.4 x 13-14.8/u, blunt-elliptic, rounded at the distal end and with a 

 distinct cup at the proximal end. Wall very remarkable in structure: the outer and 

 inner layers becoming separated from each other as the spores mature, leaving the 

 adjacent surfaces of the walls irregularly rough. The outer wall is usually attached to 

 the distal rim of the cup while the base of the cup rests on the inner wall. Spores buff 

 to brownish in mass without any tint of green. Basidia 6-7.6 x 16-23/t; 2-spored, club- 

 shaped. 



Our only collection of this plant occurred along with the plant with greenish gleba 

 which we are calling B. clathroides. The present species seems quite distinct from the 

 latter in glebal color and structure, and in peridial, basidial and spore structure: the 

 color of the gleba in the species here described is buff to brown without any tint of green 

 and the chambers are pouch-like and only slightly elongated, while in our collections 

 of H. clathroides the gleba always has a greenish tint and the chambers are usually 

 elongated and narrow; in the present plant the peridium is covered with flocculent 

 threads which are covered with crystals, while in our specimens of H. clathroides the 

 flocculence, though usually present, is nothing like so evident as in the present plant. 

 The basidia in the present plant are two-spored while in H. clathroides they are 2-4- 



