the 



Color variation in some of the fungi 



Fred Jay Seaver 



The present short paper is the outgrowth of a year spent at the 

 New York Botanical Garden as Columbia University fellow in 

 botany, during which a large amount of time was spent in the 

 study of the North American Hypocreales, the main results of 

 which are still unpublished. The order Hypocreales belongs to 



group of fungi commonly known as the Pyrenomycetes and is 

 distinguished from the other orders of the group by the absence of 

 black color. Instead of the black charcoal-like appearance the 

 plants of the order show almost every conceivable shade, the indi- 

 viduals as a whole probably being more brilliantly colored than 

 those of any other group of fungi and doubtless rivaling, in this 

 aspect, any other group of plants. But notwithstanding their 

 brilliant colors, many of the plants of the order are so small and 

 occur in such unexpected places that they escape the eye of the 

 casual observer and often that of the more trained collector as well. 



Probably no character is of more importance, if properly used, 

 ln the det ermination of species among the fungi than that of color, 

 n at the same time no character has been so sadly misused, 

 ore synonyms in the present order owe their origin to lack of 

 nowledge of the amount of variation of color in the various species 

 the order than to any other one fact. To describe a new spe- 

 Cles of ma p!e which is distinguished from some of the species al- 

 ready described by the fact that the leaves are red instead of green 

 w °uld be considered absurd by students of higher plants, yet many 

 Pecies of fungi have been " made " on characters which are just 

 s striking and also just as valueless as the one just suggested. 

 e few corrections which are set forth here are made, not in the 

 P'nt of criticism, but with the hope that they may prevent some of 

 e similar errors which otherwise might occur in the future. It is 

 ^uch more difficult to study the life-history of plants which are but 

 ^ vh ractlon of a millimeter in diameter than that of the higher plants 



stand often many meters in height. Yet, if the existence of 



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