[Vol. 1 

 220 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



other forms of the clusters and pileoU, the covering of the upper 

 surface, and the spore characters there is no difference between 

 those fructifications produced without woody food and those 

 having it. There is no sharp color separation between these 

 color extremes. 



Specimens growing on the ground usually have a short stem- 

 like base, while those growing on wood are reflexed; the same col- 

 lection may show both these conditions, as, for example, that 

 from Skagway, Alaska, if some of the fructifications start from 

 sticks and others directly from the ground. Persoon regarded 

 the stem in T. terrestris as the chief character separating that 

 species from his T. ladniata, as may be seen from his own de- 

 scriptions contrasting the two in his ^Synopsis Fungorum,' pp. 

 666 and 567, as follows: 



"3. Thel. terrestris: subimbricata obscure fusca, pileo applanato 

 fibroso-strigoso.'^ 



"Hab. in arenosis ad terrain. Stipes breuis, lateralis omnino adest. 

 Substantia submoUis, non ita coriacea sicca, vti in ceteris speciebus.'' 



"4. Thel. laciniata: imbricata obscure fusca, pileo tenui laciniato 

 crispo subtus papillis congestis scabro.^' 



^'Hab. ad radices truncorum. Cespitem difformem efformat, 2 vnc. 

 lata, tenuis. Slip, vix adest distinctus." 



These descriptions supplement each other as a description 

 for one species; each has special application to fructifications 

 growing side by side under such conditions as to show that they 

 are from a common mycelium. Persoon never claimed that his 

 species differed from T. terrestris in color. Fries gave a different 

 description of T. laciniata in his works cited to the injury of 

 T. intyhacea , but the characters he gives are not satisfactory. 

 European mycologists with a wide knowledge of the Thele- 

 phoracecB as they grow are unable to distinguish these two species. 

 In letters to me, Bresadola regards T. laciniata as a synonym 

 of T. terrestris; and Romell does not know T. terrestris if it is 

 distinct from T. laciniata. 



Specimens examined: 

 Exsiccati: Ellis, N. Am. Fungi, 511; Ell. & Ev., N. Am. Fungi, 



2732, under the name T, intyhacea. 

 Austria: G. Bresadola. 

 Sweden: G. Romell, 52, 65, 56, 57. 

 Newfoundland: A. C. Waghorne, 276 (in Mo. Bot. Gard. Herb.). 



