A Drain-blocking Fungus. A . Lorrain Smith. 263 



50 or 60 yards away. Tt may be that remains of elm roots or 

 timber are present in the soil. It might also be possible that the 

 fungus had lived on the coniferous wood. The Fomes was found 

 in four different places ; it has now been removed at great cost 

 and trouble. 



STUDIES IN DISCOMYCETES II. 



By Jessie S. Bayliss Elliott, D.Sc. {Birm.), B.Sc. {Lond). 



5. Dasyscypha conformis (Cooke) Sacc. 



During the last two years I have often found on the dead 

 stems of rushes Erinella apala (B. & Br.) Sacc. growing very 

 plentifully and also Dasyscypha conformis (Cooke) Sacc. ; some- 

 times both were growing together on the same clump of rushes. 

 Massee (British Fungi, Vol. iv. p. 334) states that the latter 

 species was unknown to him and also that he was unable to 

 find the type specimen in Cooke's herbarium. Both Discomy- 

 cetes are very similar except in microscopic characters, but 

 after meeting the two frequently, one recognises readily with 

 a hand lens D. conformis by its larger size and its sessile or very 

 shortly stipitate form (fi^. 3). It has been suggested that 

 D. conformis might be an immature form of E. apala: but after 

 studying both species I find the microscopic characters of the 

 two very distinct. 



Since Cooke's description of D. conformis copied by Massee 

 is very incomplete and also has inaccurate spore measurements, 

 I think it would be useful to describe the fungus again. 



D. conformis. Gregarious or scattered, sessile or very shortly 

 stipitate, -75-1 mm. diameter, cupulate becoming plane, fawn 

 colour, covered with short, wide, colourless, obtuse, clavate, 

 aseptate hairs filled with oil drops when fresh; excipulum 

 parenchymatous, cells oblong; asci subcylindrical, 65-70 x j^i, 

 apex obtuse, spores slenderly lanceolate 14-20 x i-S/x, one or 

 two seriate, straight, sometimes slightly curved; paraphyses 

 acerose, exceeding the asci, some narrow, others wide — 5/u,, 

 filled with oil drops when fresh (figs. 3, 4, 5, 6). 



E. apala is distinguished from the above by the much longer 

 spores arranged in a fascicle, the septate paraphyses which 

 project further above the asci than do those of D. conformis, 

 and also by the long narrow tapering hairs which surround the 

 margin and cover the excipulum, and which form a sharp con- 

 trast to the obtuse clavate marginal hairs of D. conformis 

 (figs. 7, 8.) 



