RARE OR INTERESTING FUNGI RECEIVED FROM 

 CORRESPONDENTS 



CLAVARIA NIGRICANS, FROM M. ESPINOSA, CHILE 



(Fig. 1093). Simple, erect, i-i^ cm. high, black. Stipe 2 x 5-7 mm. 

 quite distinct from the fruiting portion. Head thicker than the stipe, 

 rugulose plicate. Cystidia none. Spores 6 x 10, hyaline, smooth, 

 laterally apiculate, guttulate. 



Fig. 1093. 



Fig. 1094. 



We have never worked over the Clavarias, but are unable to find 

 a description that fits it. It is an ambiguous Clavaria, for we know 

 no other species that is black, and Clavarias are not supposed to have 

 distinct stipes nor plicate heads. There is a record of a black Clavaria 

 in Europe, but in the sense of Fries at least, it turns out to be a Geo- 

 glossum. This little plant grew in the ground and has the general 

 appearance of a Geoglossum and we supposed it was a Geoglossum 

 until we examined it "au microscope." A "new genus" might be 

 made for it, or it might be put in Physalacria but it does not fit either 

 in Clavaria or Physalacria very well. Our Figure 1094, which is 

 enlarged sixfold, will give a correct idea of this little plant, and suggest 

 the advisability of inventing a new name for the genus. 



POLYSTICTUS DIALEPTUS, FROM T. HUNTER, AFRICA 



(Fig. 1095). Pileus thin, flaccid, dimidiate, largely resupinate. 

 Surface appressed, tomentose, with raised zones, brown. Context 

 thin, brown. Pores fleshy, minute brown. Setae none. Spores 

 oblong, abundant, 6 x 12, hyaline, smooth. 



These are the first specimens I have seen and it is referred to 

 Fries' species (of which no type exists) from the description, which 

 it answers in a way, and which was from the same region. It is a 



729 



