HYMEXOGASTRACEAE 37 



"Fructifications subglobose and irregular, measuring 3 cm. in diameter, a beautiful 

 citrine when fresh, odor not strong, when dry like Phallus dupHcatus, chamois or honey- 

 yellow (Ridgway); funiculi attached, mummy brown (Ridgway) when dry; peridium 

 thin. 120m thick, simple, byssoid, context of slender hyphae, maize yellow (Ridgway); 

 gleba when dry cinnamon buff (Ridgway); cavities globose or irregular, empty; septa 

 In 27 ft thick, context of hyaline hyphae; basidia broadly clavate, 7 x 13— 15ju, hyaline, 

 with sterigmata which are 3-4.5/u long; spores truncate, broadly ellipsoid, creamy, 

 3-4.4 x 6.8-7. 2m, smooth." 



In a letter Mr. Linder calls attention to the fact that the cavities grow larger toward 

 the center. 



Illustrations: Linder. As cited above. 



Xew Hampshire. Holderness. Linder, coll. (Farlow Herb.). 



NIGROPOGON Coker and Couch, n. gen. 



As in PJiizopogon except adherent superficial fibers entirely lacking, peridium and 

 tramal plates composed almost entirely of pseudoparenchymatous cells, and the spores 

 strongly angular. 



Nigropogon asterosporus n. sp. 



Plate 108 



Fruit body hypogeal, subglobose, 11 mm. thick when fresh, shrivelling and drying 

 to a little more than half its original size ; peridium when fresh nearly pure white, drying 

 tawny or amber brown; rooting by an entangled network of very delicate black, hairlike 

 fibrils; adherent, vein-like fibrils entirely lacking on the surface. Peridium 100-220ju 

 thick, of one layer composed of large parenchymatous cells and delicate threads. 

 Gleba pure white at first but soon becoming pale vinaceous russet or pecan brown 

 (Ridgw.) as the spores are formed, drying sayal brown. Cavities up to 1.5 mm. wide 

 by 120/i deep, sinuous, remaining empty. Tramal plates quite variable in thickness, 

 80-200m thick, usually about 1 10m thick, composed of thin-walled pseudoparenchymatous 

 cells and threads, continuous with the peridium. Hymenium composed of short, more 

 or less rectangular cells which elongate to form basidia. Basidia collapsing in the 

 distal half immediately after the spores are formed, the proximal half persisting; 

 7.5-°m thick in the proximal half, 5.5-6.5m in the distal half by 26-38m long; usually 

 with 4 (rarely 2) nearly sessile spores. Odor when fresh slightly like an old Irish potato 

 but not unpleasant ; on drying becoming like that of ham, faintly nitrous or phosphorous. 



Spores color of gleba, very peculiar in shape, strongly angular, usually with four 

 angles showing in optical section, the most acute angle being at the mucro end, 8.3- 

 9.8x11.5-12/*. 



This remarkable species belongs in the Hymenogastraceae, close to PJiizopogon. 

 It is clearly distinct from that genus, however, in peridial and tramal plate structure and 

 in the shape of the spores. In the present species the peridium and tramal plates are 

 composed of pseudoparenchymatous cells and a few threads, while in PJiizopogon the 

 peridium and tramal plates are composed of threads which usually are rather delicate; 

 also the spores of this plant are angular while the spores of PJiizopogon are invariably 

 elliptic and smooth. The rhizomorphs, the empty glebal chambers, and the structure 

 and development of the basidia suggest a close relationship to PJiizopogon. 



The development of the basidia in this species is very peculiar. The hyrreniumis 



