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BRIEFER ARTICLES. 



A MINNESOTA SPECIES OF TUBER. 



(with three figures) 



The Tuberaceae, which occur abundantly in Europe, have as yet 

 been but sparingly reported from North America. In Saccardo*s Syl- 

 loge^ Tuber macrosfortwi Vittad. is reported from Pennsylvania, No 

 authority is cited, and it has been impossible to find the original 

 report. Terfezia leonis Tul., a member of the closely allied order 

 Elaphoraycetaceae, is reported by Rev. A. B. Langlois'' from north- 

 western Louisiana, and has been distributed by Ellis in his North 

 Amerkan FungL^ Dr. R. Thaxter reports to me that Tuber dryophilum 

 Tul. is common in parts of New England, and that other tuberaceous 

 fungi occur there, though not in abundance. The only other report of 

 the occurrence of tuberaceous fungi in North America is from Califor- 

 nia, where Harkness'* has found a large number of species of Tuber- 

 aceae, including thirteen species of the genus Tuber, seven of which 

 he describes as new. 



In view of these facts the occurrence of a species of Tuber in the 

 interior of the continent, and in the most northern part of the United 

 States, is of more than ordinary interest. 



On March ii, 1903, specimens of a species of Tuber were collected 

 by Mr, H. L. Lyon in the vicinity of Minneapolis, Minn. The locality 

 where the fungi were found is a steep bank with southern exposure. 

 The soil is a stiff calcareous clay, covered with a shallow layer of leaf- 

 niold. At the time of collection a week of warm weather had melted 

 the winter's snow and thawed the soil to the depth of several inches, 

 but the clay subsoil was still frozen hard, and the surface soil had been 

 soft for only a very few days. 



The fungi were found in the leaf-mold about the base of a small 

 group of basswood trees {Tilia america?ia L,). A further collection was 



^Saccardo, p. a., Sylloge P'ungorum 8: 887. 



"Journal of Mycology 3 : ro. 1887. 



3 Ellis, J. B., and Everhart, B. M., North American Fungi, second series, no. 

 1782. 



-♦Harkness, H. W., California hypogaeous fungi. Pror. Cali. Acad. Sci. 8 Jy. 

 1899. 



1903] 427 



