30 THK HYMKNOCiASTRACEK OK TASMANIA, 



HYMENOGASTER LEVISPORUS, Mass. et Eod. 

 ("Kew Bulletin.'") 



Trr'jgularly g!obcso, white, 2-3 cin. l\'ridiuni very 

 thin, subfloccose, continuous Avith the surrounding mycelium. 

 •Gleba rather den.se. pale brown, spaces small. Spores pale 

 brown, spherical, or nearly so, smooth, 10-11 micron. 



o. SECOTIUM. 



In Cooke's "Handbook of Australian Fungi " Secotium 

 as placed in Lycoperclaceae, a family characterised by apical 

 dehiscence and a disint<;grated gleba at matui'ity. In 

 Secotium the trama is persistent, arranged in crumpled 

 plates, radiating from the columella and dehiscence occurs 

 by a basal cleft round the stem. A typical Secotium haa 

 a well-developed stem, which pierces the gleba to the apex, 

 and there expands, and is continuous with the peridium, 

 In the lower part the surface of the peridium assiimcs the 

 character of an arachnoid volva covering the groove. In 

 some Tasmanian forms the stem is almost reduced to the 

 sterile base of Hvmcnogaster, and then the fungus is sel- 

 dom exposed above ground, except by accident. S. Gunnii 

 •often has the appearance of a deformed Agaric, and the 

 natural positicn of the genus appears to be intermediate 

 between the Gastromvcetes and the Agaric family of 

 Hymenomyc?tes. 



From Tasmania four species have been described. 



SECOTIUM ERYTHROCEPHALUM, Tul. 



"Gregarious, rather long stemmed ; stem erect, smooth, 

 naked, white, narrowly fistulose ; peridium innate, simple, 

 •even, smooth, carmine-red ; cells imequal, large, septa thin, 

 distinct, destitute of fiocci, basidia arising from the walls 

 bearing 2-4 spores; spores elliptic, even, brown on long 

 storigmata, 10-11 x 5 micron. " — Cooke's "Handbook. " I 

 liave seen no specimen. 



SECOTIUM GUNNII. Bkhk. 



Irregularlv globose, pale, smooth. 2-4 cm. diameter ; 

 ■stem solid, short, tliick. continuous with the peridium 



