THE STRUCTURE AND RELATIONSHIP OF 
URNULA GEASTER 
F.D. HEALD AND F. A. WOLF 
(WITH PLATE XII AND THREE FIGURES) 
During the season of 1909 the writers found an interesting ascomy- 
cete growing abundantly in the vicinity of Austin, Texas. On 
attempting to identify the species it was traced to Urnula geaster 
Peck,* which was collected at Austin, in 1893, by Dr. L. M. UNDER- 
woop and sent to Mr. C. H. Prcx for identification, but the charac- 
ters observed did not agree with PEck’s description in several impor- 
tant points. For this reason a package of fresh specimens was sent 
to Mr. Peck, who replied that they were the same as the original 
Urnula geaster which he had previously described, but that his descrip- 
tion was lacking in a number of important points, since only dried 
specimens had been available for making the original diagnosis. 
This description has been corrected by Mr. PEcx? in his recent report, 
in accordance with the examination of fresh specimens sent to him 
by the authors. 
Since this fungus has recently been made the basis of a new genus, 
Chorioactis,3 and the material used for the study consisted only of 
dried herbarium specimens, the careful study of its anatomy was 
undertaken to determine the validity of its separation from Urnula. 
Habitat 
The ascomata of Urnula geaster are found growing, either singly 
or in groups, from roots and portions of stumps of the small-leaved 
elm (Ulmus crassifolia) which are old and somewhat disintegrated. 
They may be clustered close to the base of the stump, or they may 
originate from the roots at some point distant from it. In all cases 
the stipe or stalk of the apothecium comes from a point 5-10°™ below 
the surface of the ground. 
1 Saccarpo, P. A., Sylloge Fungorum 11:422. 1895. 
2 Peck, C. H., Report of N. Y. State Botanist for 1908. pp. 31, 32. 19°9- 
3 Kuprer, E. M., Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 29: 142. 1902. 
Botanical Gazette, vol. 49] [182 
