544 CLASS BASIDIOMYCETEAE 



the former there is a stout, rapidly expanding stipe whose expansion tears 

 open the peridium at the top leaving it around the base of the stipe as a 

 volva. (Fig. 178.) In the Clathraceae the stipe may be present {Simhlum, 

 Pseudocolus (Fig. 176 B-C), Aseroe, etc.) bearing the receptacle at its top, 

 or absent, the enlarging of the network of the receptacle rupturing the 

 volva (Clathrus). The young gleba is more or less coralloid in its develop- 

 ment and forms a complicated system of branching and anastomosing 

 branches and plates covered by the hymenium. These dissolve completely, 

 except the spores, to form a slimy malodorous mass. 



The simple Phallales have many points of resemblance to the Hyster- 

 angiaceae, in some of the genera of which the gleba eventually dissolves 

 (e.g., Phallogaster) . The majority of the order are tropical or subtropical, 

 but several genera are common in the temperate regions. Among these 

 are, in the Clathraceae, Clathrus ruber Mich, ex Pers. (Fig. 176 A) which 

 forms a pyriform coarse net with thick receptacular branches, arising 

 from the ruptured volva. The dissolved gleba lines the inner surface of the 

 hollow receptacle. The fungus is 6 to 8 cm. tall and red, rarely yellow, in 

 color. Lysurus australiensis Cke. & Mass. (Anthurus horealis Burt) has a 

 white to pink stipe with several connate, outwardly furrowed receptacular 

 arms at its top, the whole reaching a height of 10 cm. In the Phallaceae 

 the commonest genera of the temperate regions are Mutinus, Phallus, and 

 Didyophora. In the first the receptacle is a closely appressed cap on the 

 upper portion of the stipe which, as in all the stalked members of the 

 order, stands in the ruptured volva. The pileus is usually some shade of 

 red as is often the case for the upper portion of the stipe. The mainly 

 European M. caninus (Huds. ex Pers.) Fr. is usually without offensive 

 odor while M. ravenelii (B. & C.) Fisch., which is the commoner form in 

 the United States, has a foul odor. Phallus and Didyophora have a bell- 

 shaped pileus free from the stipe except at the top. The dissolved gleba 

 covers the pileus which may be smooth but in most species is reticulate 

 with large shallow pits. The commoner species in Europe is P. impudicus 

 L. ex Pers., sometimes attaining a height of 15 cm. or more with a pileus 3 

 to 3.5 cm. broad. The stipe is white and 2 to 3 cm. thick. The color of the 

 pileus when free from the spores is mostly white. In the eastern United 

 States the commoner species is P. ravenelii B. & C, with a reddish stipe 

 and the surface of the pileus not strongly reticulately marked. Didyophora 

 differs from Phallus by the formation of a beautiful skirt-like "indusium" 

 attached near the top of the stipe beneath and free from the pileus. This 

 is white in color and reticulate with large meshes. The troi)ical D. indu- 

 siata (Pers.) Fisch. has a larger indusium than D. duplicata (Bosc ex Fr.) 

 Fisch. which is frequent in the eastern United States and occasional in 

 Europe. (Figs. 177, 178.) The tropical genus Itajahya, first described from 

 Brazil, has recently been discovered in Arizona and New Mexico by Long 



