White : The Nidulariaceae of North America 253 



plants resembling Crucibiihan in habit * have been described under 

 Nidiilaria which differ so much in the peridial structure and char- 

 acter from the type of the genus, with the exception of not having 

 the sporangioles attached to the inner wall of the peridium, that it 

 seems best to establish another genus in order to simplify as much 

 as possible the arrangement of the family. It was ardently desired 

 to retain the name Nidiilaria, but unfortunately it has been found 

 impossible to do this as all seven of the species which Fries f gives 

 under his section Nidiilaria conform to the type of Granularia, so 

 the name Nidiilaria must pass into synonymy. 



It is interesting to note that Corda % included only Nidiilaria 

 and Cyathiis under the Nidulariaceae. Nees noted a resemblance 

 between this family and Polysacciini, but the latter genus is in- 

 cluded by Fischer § under the Sclerodermataceae as Pisolithiis 

 Alb. & Schwein. 



Although the members of this family have been mentioned in 

 nearly all works treating of fungi from the time of Clusius, i6oi^ 

 little was known of their structure and life habits until 1842, 

 when Schmitz || wrote a short paper on CyatJuis, and two years 

 later the brothers Tulasne,! instigated by this first effort to con- 

 tinue the study of these interesting plants, prepared their treatise 

 on the organization and fructification of the Nidulariaceae, which, 

 with the supplementary work of Sachs,** Eidamff and Brefeld,J| 

 forms the foundation of our exact knowledge of this group of 

 fungi. 



The American species have never been monographed, and even 

 the mention of plants belonging to this family has been compara- 

 tively infrequent. 



* Under Crucibulum De Bary (Comp. Morph. 321) calls attention to the fact that 

 he was unable to find a funiculus in some peridioles but says " the coil always showed 

 a small point which answers to it." In the specimens referred to this genus there was 

 absolutely no trace or rudiment and it would be impossible even in young sporangioles 

 to determine to which side they had been attached. 



t Anleit. 103. 1842. 



X Syst. Myc. 2 : 300. 1823. 



\ L. c. 338. 



II Ueber Cyathus. Linnaea, 16: \\l. pi. 6, y. 1842. 



^Ann. Sci. Nat. III. i : 41-107. //. 1844. 



**Bot. Zeitung, 833-845, 849-861. 1855. 



tfCohn's Beitr. z. Biol. 2 : 221-245. 1876. 



f J Bot. Mitt, iiber Schimmelpilze, 3 : 176-180. 1877. 



