DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 97 



Morchella hybrida. Pers. (M. semilibera Dec.) is readily distinguished 

 hy its rather short, conical pileus having the lower half free from the 

 stem, while the pits resemble somew'hat those of the conical morel, as 

 does also the color of the pileus. This morel varies much in size and 

 form. In the smaller forms the pileus is large in proportion to the 

 size of the stem, which is occasionally only an inch high and not as large 

 as a lead pencil, while the larger forms have a stem which sometimes 

 reaches a height of six inches with a swollen, distorted base. 



Morchella bispora Sorok. has a superficial appearance much like that 

 of M. hybrida, but the comparatively thin pileus is white underneath and 

 entirely free from the stem except at the very apex. But its most dis- 

 tinguishing character is that the asci contain only two spores, which are 

 much larger in proportion to their diameter than those of any other morel. 

 A few years ago, Mr G. H. Hicks, a former instructor in botany, found a 

 form of this morel, which was named by Professor Peck Tar. truncata, on 

 account of the truncate pileus. This variety has also been found by us. 



Spores of the different species of morels, when germinated in water, 

 acted much alike. Usually two germ tubes were sent out, one at each 

 end of the spore, and soon formed a branching and anastomosing system 

 of septate mycelium. The union of two spores when in contact was not 

 unusual. In a number of cases the spores of J/, bispora became once 

 ■or twice septate during germination. 



As to the occurrence of the different species, I may say: M. esculenta, 

 the common morel, the morel of my story, while not too cosmopolitan, 

 is sometimes very abundant, especially after warm rains in May and 

 June. At such times one learns to look for its sponge-like head in the 

 grass about certain clumps of evergreens, in open places in the woods, 

 along fences, in orchards and other places where the ground is seldom 

 disturbed. Usually gregarious, occasionally tufted and sometimes sol- 

 itary in habit, this morel is much sought for by the fungus eater. A 

 half bushel of them was picked at one time from a woods on the College 

 farm by some persons from the city, and I have collected nearly a peck 

 of them in a morning from the same woods during the past season. 

 M. conica was found in sufficient numbers at times to furnish a meal, 

 but was at no time plentiful, while typical specimens of the narrow-cap 

 morel were less numerous. 



The half-free morel frequents rich, moist woods and seems rather 

 scattered in habit and not especially abundant, although I have been 

 able to fill a vasculum with them at one time. 



The small size, thin pileus and uncommon occurrence of the two-spored 

 morel have thus far made it of scientific interest only, although 1 hope 

 to test its edible qualities during the coming season. Professor Peck 

 mentions this as the rarest of New York morels, he himself never hav- 

 ing collected it in that state. We collected nearly a hundred speci- 

 mens in certain woods near the Campus last season. Tuesday of this 

 week (March 29) I found two immature specimens, the stems of which 

 were no longer than the pileus. Their freedom from the attacks of 

 insect larva?, the absence of any noxious members of the genus and the 

 readiness with which they may be distinguished from other fungi make 

 the morels about the safest of edible fungi for the inexperienced per- 

 son to collect. From their dry and somewhat brittle character, one may 



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