110 Journal of Mycology [Vol. 13 



ones, ovate to globose, 2-3 cm. tall by 1-3 cm. thick. Stipe cy- 

 lindric-fusiform to fusiform, hollow, scarlet, 9-15 cm. tall by i^ 

 to 2.\ cm. in diameter, walls of several chambers thick, which 

 open onto outer and inner surfaces of stipe as pits ; chambers 

 fsodiametric, pseudoparenchymatous ; apex perforate or imper- 

 forate, but usually perforate as the plant ages, by scarlet top of 

 apex falling entirely off of plant ; joined to pileus by a narrow 

 irregular scarlet collar or ring. Pileus conic, smooth or rugose, 

 scarlet, sometimes extending below gleba into a narrow sterile 

 border, whose edges are finely crinkled to dentate, pseudoparen- 

 chymatous, 1-2 cm. wide to 2-3 cm. tall. Gleba at first Isabella 

 color, becoming a dirty yellowish brown when deliquescing, odor 

 very foetid. Veil v/a nting or when present, membranous floc- 

 cose, white beneath pieus or in hands or patches on the stipe or 

 clinging to stipe within volva as in P. impudicus. Spores oblong 

 2 X 4 /A or ovate-oblong 3-4 x 6-8 /x. In lawns and open grassy 

 places Austin, Tex., April, May and Nov., 1900, or in old sandy 

 fields near rotting oak stumps and along fences in sandy soil. 

 Denton, Tex., Nov. to Jan., 1902 and 1903. 



This species was very abundant at Austin, Texas, during the 

 nionths of April and May, 1900, caused by the excessively wet 

 season. All the Austin specimens were found on lawns or in 

 other grassy unshaded places, often in groups of 4-6 plants, usu- 

 ally one large expanded plant surrounded by eggs of various 

 ages, which usually produced much smaller plants than the first 

 and central one, all attached to a common net work of mycelium, 

 but usually not in contact as were the eggs of P. impudicus. 

 Sonje eggs were two or three inches from central plant, but all 

 within a radius of 4 inches and when the dirt was washed away 

 v;erc seen to be attached to a common network of white mycelial 

 strands. This mycilium ramified in all directions among the old 

 and decaying grass roots that lie some 3 or 4 inches below the 

 living turf. The eggs in some of these bunches produced wee 

 plants, often only one inch tall but perfect copies of their larger 

 brothers. 



The mycelium seems to be perennial in the soil as the owners 

 of the lawn from which most of the plants were obtained, stated 

 that every year for ten years they had noticed "the red stinking 

 things on their lawn." 



The caps of the Austin sj)ccime'is show all degrees of rough- 

 ness, some are smooth, other have upper part smooth and lower 

 part wrinkled, some have one side smooth, the other rugose, while 

 still others — usually the large plants — are strongly wrinkled 

 over the entire surface, the ridges in all cases are longitudinal 

 and more pronounced on lower half and at margin of the pileus, 

 (See Fig. 6.) The caps of the Denton plants are smooth or 

 only slightly rugose. This .shows that too much stress should 

 not be laid on the smoothness or rugosity of the pileus as it 



