32 M-.W \(IRK STATli MUSliUM 



The whole plant is 2-5 inches long and 1-2 inches broad in its 

 widest part. The stem is .25-2 inches long and 3-5 lines thick. 



In opening, the receptacle splits longitudinally into 4-6 rays 

 which curve gracefully outward revealing tlie whitish or sub- 

 ochraceous hymeniuni. The chinks first appear at or near the 

 middle of the receptacle and extend each way; downward to or 

 nearly to the stem and upward to and through the umbo. The 

 spores sometimes contain a single large nucleus, sometimes several 

 small ones of unequal size. The paraphyses are moniliform, at 

 least in the upper part. 



This species has been made the type of a new genus, Choriactis, 

 chiefly because the cells of the receptacle are wholly parenchymatous 

 insteafl of being mostly prosenchymatous, as in the receptacle of 

 U r n u 1 a c r a t e r i u ni . the type species of the genus Urnula. 

 To ignore all the plainly perceptible and easily ascertainable generic 

 characters of a plant as large as this and give more weight to a 

 slight difference in the cellular structure of the receptacle than to 

 them, certainly does not seem scientific or reasonable. And the 

 absurdity of it is emphasized when, as in this case, this slight 

 difference is made the chief reason not only for the establishment 

 of a new genus but for removing that genus with its one species 

 to the family Pezizaceae with which it has little else in common. 

 If such a course is to be followed it would l)e necessary to examine 

 with a compound microscope all similar plants before it would be 

 possible to refer them to their proper genera and families. 



In the species under consideration all the generic characters as- 

 cribed by Fries to the genus Urnula are shown except one, namely 

 "ore rotundo rimose dehiscens," (splitting open in a rounded 

 mouth j. In Sylloge, this part of the Friesian generic description 

 was modified or extended by adding after " rotundo," " vel lacini- 

 ato " (or laciniate). There is also added under the description of 

 Urnula crater ium (Schw.) Fr. the remark, "Passim lacini- 

 atum dehiscit." From this it api>ears that even the type species of 

 the genus Urnula sometimes splits longitudinally. The gross dif- 

 ference then between the generic character assigned by Fries to 

 the genus Urnula and the species described as U r n u 1 a g e a s t e r 

 comes so near the vanishing point that it seems superfluous to 

 separate the two plants generically. 



Verpa digitaliformis Pers. 

 At the base of sand banks. Karner, Albany co. May. D. B. 

 Young. A rare species in our State and remarkable in this case 

 for growing in sandy soil. 



