[У ог. 11 
392 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
spores so closely on account of the thick gelatinous sheath that 
they may be mistaken for the latter. In Leucophlebs candida 
Harkness, one finds that the spore frequently has slipped out of 
its sheath, reminding one of the germination of the chlamydo- 
spores of Fistulina, reported by de Seynes.! 
In 1899 Harkness described a new genus, Leucophlebs, based on 
5 species, 3 of which are undoubtedly Leucogaster sp. Тһе types 
of the 2 remaining species are in such a collapsed condition that 
it is difficult to interpret the structure, but apparently they are 
the imperfect condition of Leucogaster. For the present we would 
leave this genus among the Fungi Imperfecti, analogous to 
Ceriomyces Corda? (Ptychogaster Corda), a chlamydosporic stage 
of Polyporus Micheli ex Fries, in so far as the species have been 
connected with any perfect stage. 
The relationships of Leucogaster and Scleroderma in connection 
with the forms originally described as Phlyctospora offer an oppor- 
tunity for further investigation by those having access to young 
material. There seems to be a series of forms from such species 
as Leucogaster luteomaculatus and L. floccosus with their duplex 
peridia, through such forms as L. citrinus to L. badius, thence to 
Scleroderma (Phlyctospora) fuscum and S. (Euscleroderma ? ) 
dictyosporum and S. (Euscleroderma) aurantium, in which there is 
а gradual thickening of the peridium, a thickening of the gelatin- 
ous envelope of the spore with a simultaneous increase in the 
depth of the warts and reticulations, which finds its most complete 
expression in the subgenus Phlyctospora of Scleroderma, and а 
sudden disappearance of the gelatinous sheath in the subgenus 
Euscleroderma. Observations on the development of Scleroderma 
hypogaeum Zeller by one of us show that the spores of this species 
are at first surrounded by a thick gelatinous sheath which, upon 
maturity and drying, disappears. Further, it will be noted that 
in the above series of forms, all stages are represented, connecting 
forms with a well-defined and definitely organized hymenium 
with those in which the basidia are scattered throughout the 
1 de Seynes, J. Recherches pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des végétaux Ш- 
férieurs. I. Des Fistulines. v-F71 pp. 7 pl. Paris, 1874. А 
' Not Battara. Ceriomyces Battara has been used as а segregate of Boletus е 
(see North American Flora 9: 136. 1910). 
