AT.LOGASTER GLOBOSUS 



A. SCARFE, NEW ZEALAND 



Globose, hollow, ^ x "ding fr n strong mycelial, rooting strands. 

 Surface smooth, dark! a'n k. Flesh about a mm. thick, of 



three layers; a thin cortical 

 l-'yer, an intermediate, fleshy 

 ,eiitinous layer, and a thin 

 black, tenacious, gelatinous lin- 

 ing layer. The latter bears the 

 >ores, and under the micro- 

 .-.cof : s resolved into a mass 

 opores, with a few delicate 

 subhvaline hyphae. The spores 

 are hyaline, smooth and straight 

 iJ/ x 5 mic. 



I do not know, but I pre- 

 sume that the plant is related 

 to the Phalloids. While the 

 gleba has no odor, the spores are 

 the same and the gleba suggests 

 a Phalloid. 



There is a well known 

 species of Phalloid (or better a 

 related family), Phallogaster sac- 

 catus, which bears its gleba as 

 a Gasteromycete (Cfr. Phalloid, 

 Synopsis, page 71). While there 

 are strong differences between 

 Mr. Scarfe's plant and Phallo- 

 gaster, I think it better to refer the plant to this genus for the time 

 being at least, until we learn more about it. If Mr. Scarfe will watch 

 for the plant and send some very young specimens in formalin before 

 the gleba has deliquesced, its exact relation to Phallogaster can be 

 solved. Our Fig. 1106 represents the plant, 

 natural si<ce, and Fig. 1107 the inside of a 

 section. Mr. Scarfe sent the plant wrapped 

 in cotton soaked in formalin, and it reached 

 me in perfect condition. 



A few years ago Mr. Murrill found in 

 Jamaica a similar plant, which he published 

 (Mycologia, Vol. 2, p. 25) as Protophallus 

 jamaicensis. While I have not seen the plant, a close reading of his 

 description indicates to me that it may have been better to have 

 referred this to the genus Phallogaster. 



Fig. 1106. 



Fig. 1107. 



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