NIDULARIACEAE 181 



This plant is distinguished from all our other species by its smaller spores. We 

 have studied the type of Nidvlaria fascictdaria and find the spores to be oval, 6.5-8 x 

 8.5-12 M . 



Illustrations: Andrews. 1. c, pi. 17, figs. 4 and 8. 



Fries, Th. C. E. Sveriges Gasteromyceter, fig. 35 (as C. olla). 

 Hard. Mushrooms, fig. 442. 

 Lloyd. The N'idulariaceae, pi. 110, figs. 1-4. 1906. 

 White. Bull. Torn Bot. Club 29: pi. IS, figs. 8-13. 1902. 



1688. On soil under cedars in Arboretum, September 7, 1915. 



Asheville. Beardslee. 



Tennessee. Elizabethtown. Murrill, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 

 New York. Westchester Co. Howe, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 

 Wisconsin. Madison. (U. N. C. Herb, and Univ. of Wis. Herb.) Spores 6-8x9-11.5,*. 



CRUCIBULUM Tul. 



Plants cup-shaped or bell-shaped, sessile, gregarious on twigs and trash in general 

 or on the bark of logs, or rarely on living trees. Wall composed of a single thick layer 

 which in youth is velvety-tomentose externally, becoming almost smooth with age. 

 Inside of the cup covered with a thin, pale lining and without striations; the mouth in 

 youth covered with a thick, soft veil or epiphragm which disappears with maturity. 

 Peridioles numerous, almost filling the cup and attached to it by simple funiculi. 

 Tunica thick, white and quite conspicuous. The basidia forming a distinct and closely 

 packed hymenium surrounding a narrow central area which at maturity becomes 

 densely filled with spores. All the cells of the hymenium then become very thick-walled 

 and fuse together into a solid, hyaline, subhorny tissue, which seems almost structure- 

 less under low power. The spores are not embedded in cellular tissue, but stick together 

 by their surfaces and do not fall out when exposed. This organization of the fertile 

 part of the peridiole is quite different from that in Cyathus, which see. 



There is but one species in the genus. 



Crucibulum vulgare Tul. 



C. criicibuliforme (Scop.) White 

 Nidularia Juglandicola Schw. 



Plates 61, 99, 101 and 122 



Plants bell-shaped or cup-shaped, sessile, varying greatly in size, even in the same 

 collection, from 3-7 mm. high by 4-8 mm. broad at top, but not so crowded as Cyathm 

 stercorals, growing on trash or twigs of various kinds, bark of decaying logs, or even 

 on the bark of living trees; when young covered with an ochraceous tawny, velvety 

 tomentum (much less coarse and shaggy than in Cyathus stercorals), then becoming 

 almost smooth, brownish, light tan or grayish with age. Inside of the cup smooth and 

 sometimes shiny, and usually silvery gray to white. The epiphragm, which closes 

 the cup until maturity, consists of two layers, the outer one felted-tomentose, colored 

 like the cup, and made up of short, thick hairs with many short, stubby branches; 

 the inner layer white and made up of an interwoven mass of slender, much branched 

 filaments. In withering, the outer felted layer of the epiphragm sloughs off first, 

 leaving the very thin layer which soon also tears and withers away. The peridioles 

 are lenticular in shape, 1-2 mm. in diameter, attached to the cup by cords and covered 



