NIDULARIACI \l 179 



habitat and smaller spores, we are for the present retaining C. rugispermus as a species. 

 Cyaikus rugispermus has been known only from the original collection in Pennsylvania. 



Illustrations. White. 1. c, pi. 16, figs. 3-6. 



5911. On bank of branch, Xov. 20, 1922. Spores 11-14 x 14-1S.S^. 



745S. On bare red . -lay soil by road, July 20, 1924. 



7489. On sticks and bare clay. Aug. 8, 1924. Spores 11.2-15 x 15-21/x. 



Cyathus Lesueurii Tul. 



Plate 123 



Plants very slender, about 6-8 mm. high and 3.5 mm. broad at the top, brownish 

 drab below, dull gray above; upper part fibrous to strigose, lower part felted; mouth 

 surrounded by long, scattered hairs. Inner surface smooth, blackish brown. Base 

 without a pad, but the concolorous mycelium holding a ball of earth. Peridioles about 

 1.7 mm. broad, very thin, nearly black. 



Spores (of No. 7281) subspherical, very large, 18-29 x 20-31^- 



Gregarious to crowded in fine, sandy soil. This seems to agree prefectly with 

 C. Lesueurii except that the plants are not quite so large and grow on poor soil without 

 obvious humus. The shape, however, is more that of the typical form than of the 

 variety minor. Both Miss White and Lloyd, as well as Hollos, consider C. Lesueurii 

 var. minor as a synonym of C. stercorals, and in this seem certainly correct. The first 

 two authors also consider C. Lesueurii as indistinguishable from C. stercoreus, and they 

 are probably right in this also in so far that intermediates occur. As the present plants 

 grew on sand, are more slender than in C. stercoreus, and have a peculiar appearance, 

 we think it well to retain the name for the present. 



Tulasne gives the spores of the variety, which he describes from "Carolina," as 

 17.5-19.8 x 22.3 M . 



Illustrations: Tulasne. 1. c, pi. 5, figs. 5-10. 



Florida. In poor sandy soil by roadside (no obvious manure). Couch, coll. (U. N. C. Herb., No. 

 7281). 



Cyathus melanospermus (Schw.) De Toni 



Plates 100 and 122 



Cups gregarious or crowded, distinctly infundibuliform, or sometimes somewhat 

 long-campanulate, 9-12 mm. high by 6-8 mm. broad at the mouth, which is slightly 

 flaring; outer surface shaggy-hairy, the hairs collapsing and largely disappearing on 

 long exposure; color in our plants which are old, dark brown, about Mars brown of 

 Ridgway, in some with a slight tint of purple; inner surface even, smooth, and about the 

 same color as the outside. Mouth straight and distinctly fimbriate. Peridioles 1.8-2.3 

 mm. in diameter, almost black, with a rather thick outer layer of coarse, dark brown 

 fibrils with dark granules between. When wet this coat is easily torn off with a needle, 

 and underneath is a thin, dark, hard layer of densely packed threads and granules. 

 Inside this is the much thicker layer of pale sclerotic cells and within this is the hy- 

 menium which is recognizable only in the young condition. The rather ample "cavity" 

 in the center is filled with the immense spores lying in a horny (when dry), hyaline 

 matrix formed of greatly gelatinized threads. Funiculus large, strong, and very 

 elastic. 



