duce it also on our plate. Our thanks are especially extended to Rev. 

 A. Schupp for the privilege of publishing his photograph. 



BLUMENAVIA RHACODES (Plate 121). We are under special 

 obligations to Father J. Rick, Brazil, for a fine photograph that enables 

 us to present a plate of this plant. It is a rare species, only known 

 from Brazil. It was published by Alfred Moller in the superb manner 

 in which he does all his work, so that it is something more than an 

 unintelligible word "description." Blumenavia rhacodes, as will be 

 noted from our plate, is very close to the genus Laternea. Indeed, the 

 main difference is the wrinkled arms which are torn and lacerated on 

 the inner side, and the plant might even be included in Laternea without 

 doing much violence to classification. We have seen at Kew a drawing 

 of a Laternea (or a Pseudocolus) from Java, which has arms strongly 

 wrinkled on the inner side, and which shows evident transition toward 

 the genus Blumenavia. Rev. Rick's photograph is much more slender 

 than the photograph published by Alfred Moller, hence we reproduce 

 Mr. Moller's original illustration, in order to give a better idea of the 

 forms the plant takes. 



The Development of Queletia. 



The early stages of this rare plant have heretofore been entirely 

 unknown. Last summer the plant was discovered by Monsieur Victor 

 Dupain, Deux Sevres, France, growing on a pile of old tan bark in 

 his garden. He very kindly mailed us some specimens, at various 

 stages of growth, which have enabled us to observe the manner of 

 growth of the stem. The genus Queletia has no volva. A section of 

 a young specimen (Plate 122, Fig. 4) shows to the eye a homogeneous, 

 white mass without any distinction as to stem or gleba, the same as 

 a section of a young Lycoperdon. As the plant develops, the stem 

 differentiates from the gleba portion at first within the peridium, and 

 as the stem grows it breaks the peridium near the base, which remains 

 as a collar at the summit of the stem. This will be readily under- 

 stood by observing the two sections on Plate 122. Fig. 4 shows a 

 very young plant without any distinction of stem and gleba. The 

 next stage received by us is Fig. 6, in which the gleba had deli- 

 quesced and the spores ripened, while the stem had grown to about 

 an inch and had just broken the peridium. What length of time 

 is represented between these two stages we do not know, but prob- 

 ably not more than a day or two. It would be interesting to know 

 if the gleba ripens before the stem begins to develop. Xone of the 

 "eggs" that Monsieur Dupain sent us demonstrated this point. While 

 we believe the young stages of Tylostoma have not been observed, 

 they are most probably analogous to those of Queletia. It is quite 

 contrary to what we think is the case in the genus Battarrea, where 

 the peridium is borne on top of the stem, and both when young are 

 contained in a common volva. The genera Queletia and Tylostoma have 

 no true volva. 



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