30 



Ohio Mycological Bulleti?i No. 8. 



that case two Numbers could be issued each month. It will be the aim 

 to figure the commoner, more interesting and striking forms, thus it is 

 hoped rendering much service to beginners and amateurs. Photographs 

 are solicited from members of the Club. These should show the plants 

 natural size, or if the specimens are large the photos should be at least 

 four inches wide in case it is desirable to use them in making cuts for 

 the Bulletin. Thanks are extended for photographs alreadj' kindly sent. 



The Hyd'-nums. — These curious forms are usually abundant in the 

 Avoods in late summer and fall and their conspicuous spines (always 

 pointed downwards) will reveal their character at once. This is the 

 fruiting (spore-bearing) surface, peculiar to the family Hyd-na'-ce-ae. 

 They are excellent for the table if taken when young and fresh. The 

 striking photo, kindly sent by Mr. T. Otto Williams, teacher of Sciences 

 in the Circleville High School, of the Coral Hedgehog Mushroom has 

 been used in making Fig. No. 35. From the main stem successive branches 

 appear and terminate in graceful shoots ; from the under side of these 

 the short spines hang. It can thus be easily distinguished from the 

 Bear's-head Hyd'-num (H. cap'-ut-ur'-si) in which the spines are clustered 

 at the ends of the thick branches. Medusa's Head (Hyd'-num cap'ut- 

 me-du'-sae) , and Satyr's Beard (Hyd'-num er-i-na'-ce-us) , differ but 

 slightly from the preceding and will doubtless be found by all the Hydnum 

 hunters. 



The Oyster Mushroom. — This name has been' given to the Agaric 

 called Pleu-ro'-tus os-tre-a'-tus, because "the form of the plant some- 

 times suggests the outline of an oyster shell." It is a very common edible 

 ^lushroom belonging to a white-spored genus [Pleu-ro'-tus] of the Aga- 

 rics, easily recognized by the eccentric or lateral stem; the pi'-le-us, or 

 cap, may in some cases be attached at one side, i. e., more or less 

 shelving, or in some species it may be rc-su'-pi-natc, that is to say, the 

 upper side lying directly against the wood on which the plant is grow- 

 ing. The species figured in this Number of the Bulletin (Fig. 38) is 

 supposed to be Pleu-ro'-tus sap'-i-dus — a form so nearly like the one 

 named above that even so eminent authority as Professor Peck sug- 

 gests that it may be only a variety of the Oyster Agaric. I think it also 

 may as well be called the "Oyster" Mushroom — because beginners and 

 amateurs, and botanists generally, would not likely separate the two. 

 Specific limits (if there are any here) can also just as safely be ignored 

 1)\' the mycophagists. The spores are tinged with lilac when seen in 



Fig. 36. Sar-co-scy'-pha oc-ci-den-ta'-lc. Western I'eziza. On rotten twigs on 

 the ground. Cup red orange within. Photogiaph from specimen collected at San- 

 dusky, Ohio. 



