Two-sporcd liiisidia. A. A. Pearson. 43 



var. canu'ijOIia in his 'rubiiluc analyiicac FiDii^onim and 

 queries whether tlie two sport'd basidia are tOmul in the 

 other varieti(\s. However, I think the oreniiinc Mycena 

 galericulata has 2-spored basidia and those we tind with 

 4-spored basidia belong to some other species. I'or instance, 

 the so-called variety calopus is not a variety at all, but a 

 distinct species and we should call it to-day Mycena 

 inclinata. I'hen there is at least one small species of 

 Coprinus which has two spored basidia but seems to vary 

 the monotony of life by producing basidia with 3 and 

 possibly 4 sterigmata. On the other hand certain species 

 would appear consistently to have basidia with two 

 sterigmata. One of the groups of Nolanea which we have 

 been in the habit of lumping together under the name of 

 pascua has two spored basidia. vSchroeter has described a 

 Xolanea under the name Hyporhodius cefratus, the basidia 

 of which, he savs, have two long awl-shaped sterigmata. 

 This may be the same species as the one I have so often 

 examined and which there can be little doubt is the genuine 

 pascua of Persoon X: I'Vies. A species of Xaucoria which 

 appeared frequenth' in various places on Wimbledon 

 Common within the last two years always has two spored 

 basidia. I have examined numbers of this species and 

 always with the same result. A similar remark applies to 

 PhoUota pumila, and also to a species of Galera which grows 

 on cultivated ground manured with cow-dung. I have been 

 calling it Galera antipus but I have only found two speci- 

 mens with the long fusiform base which gave this species 

 its name. Then there is a viscid species of ^lycena belong- 

 ing to the epipteryi^ia type which is sometimes met with in 

 pine woods. It grows rather plentifully in tiie pine woods 

 of Oxshott and St. George's Hill, Surrey. This always has 

 two spored basidia and the spores are different in shape and 

 size from Mycena epipterygia. It is probably a distinct 

 species. 



Xow it seems to me that if after repeated examination of 

 specimens gathered from ditYerent places it is found 

 that a species always has two spored basidia, it is desirable 

 to mention this feature in the description, and it \yill be 

 found a valuable aid for identifying the species. After all, 

 Schroeter, who was certainly a most competent mycologist, 

 considered this feature alone as a justification for a new 

 genus of Clavariaceae. vSpecies familiar to us as Clavaria 

 rugosa, cinerea and cristata are called by him 

 Clavulina rugosa, cinerea* and crislaia, because they all 



* Patouillard gave a figure of the two spored basidia of Clavaria cinerea in his 



Tabular anal3'tica2. 



