672 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



tion to the time when the whole mountain top was bare rock, and by its 

 pecuHar habitat suggests the possibiUty that it may have been one of the 

 first plants to take possession of this lofty rocky summit. 



Omphalia umbellifera (Z.) Fr. 

 This is the common mushroom of the mountain top. It is a small 

 species whose cap is rarely more than an inch broad. Its color 

 is commonly pale yellow in this locality, but it is sometimes white. O, 

 montana Pk., found here about 25 years ago, has not since been found. 



Boletus illudens Fk. 



A single large well developed specimen of this fungus was found on the 

 summit in August. The species also occurs on low land near the sea 

 shore. It is evidently a species of wide range and capable of growing 

 in places of very different altitudes. 



Ustilago Caricis {Pers,) Fckl. 



Abundant on Magellan sedge on the lower marsh. The fungus 

 attacks the ovaries or seeds of the sedge and covers them with a black 

 coat of spores. 



Peridermium decolorans Fk. 



In some seasons this parasitic fungus is plentiful on the leaves of 

 spruces. The feeble ones of cold marshes and mountain tops appear to 

 be specially liable to attack. It discolors the leaves it attacks, turning 

 them yellow and increasing their unnatural, unthrifty or sickly appear- 

 ance. In his revision of the rust fungi of coniferous trees. Baron Thumen 

 considered this fungus a variety of FeridermtU7n abietinum A. «& S., 

 but the differences between the two are sufficient, in my opinion, to 

 warrant their separation as distinct species. They may be separated at 

 a glance by the difference in the discoloration of the leaves attacked by 

 them. The difference in the shape of their spores also affords a dis- 

 tinctive feature, but this is not visible without the aid of a microscope. 

 Probably our fungus is the aecidial form of some species of Chrysomyxa. 

 F. abietinui?i is the aecidial form of Chrysomyxa Ledi (A. & S.) De Bary, 

 a species not yet found within our limits. 



Hypoderma nervisequum {DC) Fr. 



This fungus forms a black line on the lower surface of leaves of balsam 

 fir. It follows the vein of the leaf. 



