98 THE GASTEROMYCETES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 



maturity; outer peridium thin (0.25 mm.), pure white, tending to become alutaceous 

 or pinkish when handled, surface delicately furfuraceous, becoming rivulose, flaking off 

 in patches at maturity; inner peridium when exposed smooth and shining, more or less 

 bronze colored and splotched with blackish or gray areas, the effect being quite metallic- 

 looking like burnt copper or tin, soon opening at the top by an irregular pore or by more 

 extensive fissures and flaps. 



Spores deep brown, thick-walled, smooth, spherical with a very short pedicel or 

 mucro, 3.5-4.3/x thick. Capillitium dark purplish brown at maturity, much branched; 

 branches long, gradually tapering to a point; main hyphae mostly about 11/u thick, 

 rarely up to 13/u. Immature gleba white, showing very small irregular chambers 

 under a lens; basidia (of No. 7999) short-clavate, 8-10.5 x 14— 18/x, with 4, rarely 3, 

 unequal sterigmata 4-7. 4/i long. 



The co-type of B. pila in the Curtis Herbarium agrees with the usual interpretation. 

 The spores are spherical, smooth, 3.7-4.5/x thick. This species seems to be the American 

 representative of B. nigrescens of Europe, and Lloyd seems to be right in concluding 

 that the latter does not occur in this country. Early records in this country, as by 

 Schweinitz and Curtis, have since proved to be based on B. pila or B. plumbea. The 

 two species, B. pila and B. nigrescens, can easily be distinguished by the spores (as 

 noted by Hollos and Lloyd), the latter having somewhat oval spores with a long pedicel. 

 (In a specimen from Bresadola, Cavelante, August, 1898, the spores are 3.8-4.8 x 

 4-5. 2yu, with a long tapering pedicel.) The spores of B. nigrescens (pi. 114, fig. 12) 

 are much more like those of B. plumbea, which are oval with a long pedicel, but those 

 of the latter that we have seen are distinctly larger. Th. Fries gives the spores of B. 

 nigrescens as 5-6/u in diameter. If this variation exists, the plants should hardly be 

 separated. The spores of Schweinitz's "B. nigrescens" are those of B. pila, spherical, 

 usually sessile, sometimes with a short mucro, 3.7-4.5/j thick. 



Illustrations: Lloyd. Genera of Gasteromycetes, pi. 9, figs. 43 and 44. 

 Lloyd. Myc. Works, pi. 2. 



North Carolina. Black Mountain. At summit on grassland frequented by cattle. Holmes, coll. 



(U. N. C. Herb., No. 5359). 

 Boone. Coker, coll. Aug. 22, 1922. The photograph shows this collection but the plants were 



lost. 

 Asheville. Beardslee. 

 Haywood Co. Piney Mountain (alt. 5700 ft.), open pasture, July 31, 1926. Coker, coll. Also 



Cold Spring Mountain, by barn, immature state, Aug. 3, 1926. Totten, coll. (U. N. C. 



Herb. No. 7999). 

 Virginia. Apple Orchard Mountain. Murrill, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 

 Pennsylvania. Buck Hill Falls. Mrs. Delafield, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). Spores smooth or nearly 



so, 3.8-4.4m, with a pedicel and very distinct oil drop. Capillitium much branched, main 



threads up to 17^. 

 New York. Arkville. Murrill, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 

 Vermont. Middleburg. Burt, coll. (Bres. Herb.). Spores spherical, usually with a short mucro, 



3.7-4.4/*. 

 Wisconsin. Madison. Trelease, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 



Algonia. Dodge, coll. (Univ. Wis. Herb, and U. N. C. Herb.). Spores smooth, 3.7-5/1, often 



with a short pedicel. 

 Wyoming. Pitchfork. Davis, coll. (U. N. C. Herb.). Spores smooth or nearly so, 3.8-5/1, with a 



short pedicel. 

 Washington. Langley. Grant, coll. (U. N. C. Herb.). Spores subspherical, smooth, 4-5.5ju, with a 



short pedicel. Main threads of capillitium up to 12/i thick. 



