gg NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN 



Ascobolus viridis Curr., Trans. Linn. Soc, 24: 154. 1864. 



Plate 30, f. i. 



Plants sessile, plane or very slightly concave, nearly flat, 1 to 

 5 mm. in diameter, yellowish or greenish-yellow, becoming brown ; 

 externally furfuraceous and darker, brownish; asci clavate, 125 

 to 150 by 20 to 22/a, tapering into a rather long stem, 8-spored; 

 spores elliptical or slightly accuminate, at first hyaline and 

 granular within, becoming purple, then brown, when mature 

 marked with net-like reticulations, 21 to 27 by 12/x, 1- to 2-ser- 

 iate, when mature crowded together ; paraphyses slender, simple 

 or branched, granular within, surrounded by greenish-yellow 

 mucus. 



On the damp, clay soil, on the banks of the Iowa River, from 

 June until late autumn, Iowa City, common. 



The following is the original description of this species : ' ' On 

 clay ground; sessile, one-third of an inch wide, plane or very 

 slightly concave, of a dark dingy yellowish green colour, exter- 

 nally very furfuraceous, almost tomentose; spores elliptical-ac- 

 cuminate, rugose-striate, amethyst purple." 



Our plants conform very closely to this description but are a 

 little smaller. 



Ascobolus stercorarius (Bull.) Schroeter, E & P. Nat. Pfl. 

 I 1 ; 198. 1897. 



Plate 29, f. n. 



Peziza stercoraria Bull. Herb. France, pi. 376, f. 1. 1787. 

 Ascobolus furfuraceus Pers., Obs. Myc. 1 : 33. 1796. 



Plants sessile, globose, then expanded, 1 to 5 mm. in diameter, 

 externally pale yellow, covered with bran-like particles, espe- 

 cially near the margin; hymenium concave, sometimes plane or 

 slightly convex, same color when young, becoming dark with 

 age on account of the dark colored spores; flesh very brittle; 

 asci clavate, emergent; spores elliptical, reticulate, violet, then 

 brown, 20 to 25 by 10 to 12//.; paraphyses filiform, septate, im- 

 bedded in sulphur-yellow gelatine. 



On old cow-dung in pastures and woods, also grown in culture. 



A very common species and easily recognized by the yellowish 



