[Vor. 11 
390 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
Leucogaster was placed by its author next to Melanogaster Corda, 
because the basidia are in less definitely organized layers than in 
the other genera of the Hymenogastraceae, while Fischer, consid- 
ering its inseparable peridium and spore characters, placed it 
between Hydnangium Wallroth and Rhizopogon Fries. In several 
species the basidia are long-pedicellate, a fact which, in the absence 
of cystidia or paraphyses, often give them the appearance of 
being scattered throughout the cavity, especially where the razor 
tangles the long, thread-like pedicels. Тһе basidium is usually 
little more than the slightly enlarged end of a hypha and fre- 
quently much smaller than one of the spores produced by it. 
In the development of the sporophore cavities seem to be formed 
in the outer sterile layer of the gleba when the hyphae cease to 
elongate and produce basidia at the ends of the hyphae, while 
the surrounding hyphae elongate rapidly, separating the basidia. 
A gel, which is either secreted or formed by the disintegration of 
many of the hyphae in the cavity, fills the cavity and oozes out 
as а milky liquid when the fructification is cut open. Тһе pere 
dium is thin and usually homogeneous with the gleba. It is vari 
able in thickness, owing to the manner in which the new cavities 
are formed. 
Fischer' has recently described development іп Leucogaster 
Лоссовив Hesse. Не finds the cavities not lined with a hymenium 
in the youngest stage studied (3.5 x 2.5 mm.) but filled with 
loose tissue of thin-walled hyphae which show marked but wholly 
irregular swelling and form a loose pseudoparenchyma. The 
trama consists of parallel, thin-walled, interwoven hyphae. In 
a later stage (11 x 4-5 mm. in diameter) the cavity has nearly 
disappeared in а formless gel and the basidia push out into it 
from the septa. 
Fischer evidently studied L. floccosus Hesse, although he was 
not sure that it might not have been L. fragrans Mattirolo. А 
study of the type of the latter shows it to be quite distinct from L. 
floccosus, although it falls into synonymy elsewhere (see р. 403). 
In the Farlow Herbarium there is a collection of L. floccosus from 
Hesse, dated 1900, which agrees with the description very well. 
1 Fischer, E. Mykologische Beiträge, 25. Jugendstadien des Fruchtkérpers Von 
Leucogaster. Naturf. Ges. Bern, Mitt. 1921: 301-307. (20-26). 1922. 
