DuRAND: THE GENUS CATINELLA 17 
conspicuous in young plants; at first spherically closed, then open- 
ing out so as to become successively cup-shaped, saucer-shaped, 
finally applanate, with a permanently upturned margin; ver 
young plants greenish yellow, becoming deeper and darker green, 
finally blackish olive when old, fleshy and somewhat amigete 
when fresh, 3-10 mm. in diameter, the majority 3-5 m On 
drying the disk becomes olive-black, the exterior eowiishis some- 
what furfuraceous or vertically striate, and the texture friable. 
Excipulum about 400 yu thick at the base, entirely parenchymatous, 
the ectal cells 18-20 » in diameter, polygonal, with dark brown ~ 
walls, becoming gradually smaller and yellow toward the hy- 
menium, the superficial cells of the margin and sides projecting to 
form short, stout, obtuse, septate, flexuous, brown pili causing the 
surface to appear furfuraceous, those at the base much longer and 
radiating so as to form a small subiculum covering the substratum 
2-3 mm. beyond the margin. On treatment with 1 per cent 
caustic potash the hymenium or whole flesh becomes deep violet 
and frequently yields a violet solution. Hymenium about 120- 
140 w thick. Asci narrowly cylindric-clavate, apex rounded, not 
blue with iodine, 65-90 x 3-6 uw (mostly 70-80 yn). Spores eight, 
uniseriate, elliptic or elliptic-clavate, usually slightly narrowed 
near the middle so as to appear slipper-shaped, continuous, two- 
guttulate, pale olive-brown to deep brown, 7-11 x 4-5 uw (majority 
8-10 yw); Paraphyses cylindric, septate, rarely branched, somewhat 
longer than the asci, the tips agglutinated with amorphous matter 
to form an epithecium 
On rotten wood, especially of old, moist, carious, decorticated 
logs, not abundant but widely distributed in eastern North America 
and the West Indies; also in Europe and Ceylon. 
This is one of our most peculiar and attractive discomycetes. 
“In its young state it is truly Peziza-like, and very beautiful.” 
While easily recognizable at sight when once understood, it has 
been described as new over and over again until very few fungi 
have a greater multiplicity of names. While this may be the 
species to which Batsch applied the name Peziza olivacea, his brief 
description and crude figures are much too inadequate to justify 
more than surmise, and may apply equally well to numerous other 
species. The apparent rarity of our plant in central Europe makes 
it still more improbable that Batsch had seen it. /P. olivacea is 
simply one of the numerous names of fungi handed down from the 
pre-Persoonian period, the mycological stone age, which are ab- 
solutely indeterminable according to present taxonomic standards, 
