Kneiffia 



HYDNACE.*: 



395 



1779. K. subgelatinosa B. & Br. (from the subgelatinous substance) 

 ab. 



Hyaline yellowish, ivory or pale buff, surface very finely 



granuloso-crested. 

 Stumps and cut surfaces of fir. 4 in. Sometimes accompanied by a green 



alga which penetrates the tissue of the fungus. Cracking when dry as in 



Corticium. 



LXXIX. MUCRONELLA Fr. 



(From the sharp-pointed spines ; diminutive of mucro, a sharp point.) 



Subiculum an extremely thin film, which soon becomes obsolete, 

 spines subulate, simple, acute, glabrous, scattered or fasciculate, and 

 more or less connate at the base. Basidia i-4-sporous. (Fig. 94.) 



Mncronella was at first placed under Isaria (/. calva) by Fries, 

 but its fruit shows it to be a true Basidiomycete, and its fugitive 



,J ) 



Fig. 94. A, Mucronella calva Fr., one-half natural size; 

 B, basidia and spores, X 500. 



subiculum to be one of the Hydnacece. Fries seems not to have 

 observed the feeble subiculum, sometimes distinct in M. fasdcularis . 



1780. M. ealva Fr. (from the habit, a fanciful comparison with an 

 almost bald head, bearing a few scattered short hairs ; calva, 

 the bald scalp) a. 



Sub. obsolete or nearly so. Sfi. slender, smooth, even, sharp- 

 pointed, covered except at the barren tips with i-4-sporous 

 basidia, whitish, then grey. The growth of the spines is in a 

 downward direction ; dry examples revive with moisture. 

 Scattered or gregarious. Rotten wood, pine. Spines vary in size from a 

 minute granule to I in. long. 



