206 



STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



pinkish yellow color, one plant being vinaceous pink and another 

 cream buff in color. When young the leaf-like lobes do not show 

 well, but as it expands they become very prominent. 



Several other species of Tremella are probably more common 

 than the ones illustrated here. One of the commonest of the Tre- 

 mellinece probably is the Exidia glandulosa, which in dry weather 

 appears as a black incrustation on dead limbs, but during rains it 

 swells up into a large, black, very soft, gelatinous mass. It is com- 

 monly found on fallen limbs of oak, and occurs from autumn until 

 late spring. It is sometimes called ** witch's butter." 



Figure 207. Tremella fuciformis. Entirely white (natural size). Copyright. 



Tremella fuciformis Berk. This is a very beautiful white tremella 

 growing in woods on leaf mold close to the ground. It forms a large 

 white tubercular mass resting on the ground, from the upper surface of 

 which numerous stout, short, white processes arise which branch a few 

 times in a dichotomous manner. The masses are 10-15 cm. in diam- 

 eter, and nearly or quite as high. The flesh is very soft, and the 

 parts are more or less hollow. The basidia are like those of the 

 genus, globose, sunk in the substance of the plant, and terminate 

 with four long, slender, sterigmata which rise to the surface and bear 

 the spores. The spores are white, nearly ovoid, but inequilateral 

 and somewhat reniform, continuous, 7-9 x 5-6 yw. 



