May 1907] The Phalloideae of Texas 113 



the prairie pastures. This species seems to be especially adapted 

 to xerophytic conditions, as the eggs will persist during dry 

 weather in a dried up condition, but when rain comes they swell 

 up and finally elongate. Several eggs were collected and allowed 

 to dry and shrink till they became hard and apparently dead, 

 they were then placed in water, which was at once absorbed and 

 the eggs gradually assumed their normal condition, they were 

 then put in a moist chamber and several expanded. 



This plant is unique in many respects. First, its agreeable 

 odour so different from the usual Phalloid ; second, its ovate 

 spores ; third, its persistent gleba, which in the field specimens 

 rarely deliquesces but dries up and remains on the pileus as a 

 hard brownish mass to be finally washed off by the rains ; fourth, 

 the utter absence of all visits from insects of any kind, no flies 

 were ever seen to visit them, even when the gleba had deliquesced 

 and become black and foetid ; no herbarium insects even will eat 

 the dried plants, for I have them in my herbarium now after a 

 lapse of 5 years, absolutely untouched by anything and yet 

 exposed in an open box, while most of my other Phalloids 

 have been badly damaged by a small beetle. Fifth, the great 

 variability of its pileus as to shape, no two plants being alike 

 especially when the elongation occurs in the open field. Sixth, its 

 circumscissile volva, on most plants the upper part of the volva 

 is carried up on top of the pileus as the stipe elongates and 

 remains there as a persistent cap, usually covering all of the 

 meshes except the outer and marginal row. This method of 

 rupturing the volva is caused by the eggs becoming partially dried 

 before elongation and the outer layer of the volva is thus brought 

 into contact with the top of the pileus and adheres more or 

 less firmly to it according to the amount of drying that the 

 eggs have undergone, now when the plant begins to elongate the 

 volva ruptures helozv this adhering portion and thus becomes cir- 

 cumscissile. the sam.e phenomenon was noticed in eggs of P. riibi- 

 cundiis which had dried before expanding, also in eggs of Mntinus 

 caninus. Eggs of S. texense that have not dried any before col- 

 lection when put into a moist chamber ruptured the volva at the 

 apex in the usual way as do most Phalloids. Some specimens 

 of this plant when dry look much like a Lysurus so that this 

 may be Ellis's Lysurus texensis. 



It has been four years since the body of this article was 

 written and only a stray Phalloid has been seen in that time; 

 except in Oct. 1905, when some 30 or 40 specimens of Sinihlum 

 sphaerocephalum were collected in a low damp place among tall 

 grass and weeds ; a few of these plants were nearly white. 



Two other Phalloids have been reported from Texas, both 

 of which are supposed to be in the Ellis Collection, now the pro- 

 perty of Columbia University, but twice within the last four years 

 has a careful search through this collection failed to bring to 



