

ARACIIXIACEAE 145 



Arachnion album Schw. 



Plates 81 and 118 



Plants with the fruiting body above ground, irregularly spherical with a more or 

 less pointed base which extends into a small toughish root, lower surface more or less 

 grooved or pitted, surface smooth, dull white until maturity then buffy when dry, or 

 yellowish if water-soaked. Peridium thin, 0.5 mm. thick or less, the same thickness 

 all around, toughish. Gleba pure white then gray or brownish olive at maturity, 

 composed of a large number of minute empty chambers lined by a hymenial layer, 

 apparently made up only of basidia, the context between the chambers consisting of a 

 loose weft of delicate, interwoven hyphae. At maturity this loose tissue breaks down 

 and leaves the chambers as distinct granular particles which contain the spores and fall 

 apart like sand at maturity or decay into a sordid mass in wet weather. This structure 

 indicates a close affinity to Lycoperdon. The peridium has no definite opening but 

 falls to pieces slowly by decay or usually by the attacks of grubs (the larvae of the 

 fire-fly playing a large part). Odor none until ripe, then decided and nitrous, resem- 

 bling somewhat that of Bovistella radicata and some Lycoperdons. There is no capil- 

 litium or columella or sterile base. 



Spores (of No. 730) brown under the microscope, smooth, short-elliptic, with a 

 decided mucro or short stalk about 1/i long, though sometimes twice the length of the 

 spore, 3.2-1.3 x 4.3-5.5/i- Basidia clavate, 3.7 x 11/*, apparently bearing only one 

 mature spore at a time though two or four sterigmata may be seen in the young state; 

 sterigmata very peculiar, a long, very slender part remaining attached to the basidium 

 and a shorter, stouter part falling off with the spores as its stalk. 



It was from this state that Schweinitz first described this interesting plant. It is 

 plentiful in Chapel Hill in summer and seems to prefer cedars, but it also grows in 

 deciduous groves and in open places and we have found it in abundance in flower beds. 

 We have also found it at Hartsville, S. C. It is widely distributed in the eastern United 

 States and, according to Lloyd, in other parts of the world. It has been found only 

 once in Europe (Italy). 



Illustrations: Lloyd. 1. c, pi. 16, pi. 73, figs. 1-3 and Myc. Notes No. 46: figs. 917, 918. 

 Schweinitz. Syn. Fung. Car. Sup., pi. 1, fig. 2. 



730. In grass under hickory, September 9, 1913. Spores 3-4.8 x 3.7-5.5/1. 



2364. Under cedars at The Rocks and on Rosemary Street, July 5, 1916. 



3115. On damp soil in Strowd's lowgrounds, June 29, 1918. 



5209. On sandy soil, June 22, 1922. Basidia 3.7 x llAi,'2-spored. 



5224. On ground in Arboretum, June 23, 1922. 



Salem. (Schw. Herb., No. 2221, type). 

 Hillsboro. Curtis, coll. (Curtis Herb.). 



South Carolina. Ravenel. Fungi Car. Exs. No. 75. (Phil. Acad. Herb.). 



Society Hill. Curtis, coll. (Curtis Herb.). 



Hartsville. Coker, coll. In sandy soil in an apple orchard, June 1913. 

 Alabama. Earle, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 

 Ohio. Berlin. Morgan, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 



