NEW YORK SPECIES OP CRATERELLUS. 



CRATEREIiLUS Fr. 



" Hymenium waxy-membvanous, distinct, but adnate to the 

 hymenophorum, definitely inferior, continuous, glabrous, even or 

 rugose. Spores white. 



" Terrestrial, fleshy or membranous, autumnal fungi, related to 

 the Gantharelli and furnished with an entire pileus and a stem." 

 Hymen. Eurqp., p. 630. 



This genus is intimately related to Cantharellus on one hand, and 

 by its nearly even hymenium it approaches Thelephora and Clavaria 

 on the other. So intimate is its relationship with Cantharellus that, 

 in the Systema Mycologicum, its species were referred to that genus, 

 and in his later work, the Hymenomycetes Europsei, Professor Fries 

 justly remarks that the analogy between various species of the two 

 genera is wonderful. Indeed, some of the species of these genera 

 cannot readily be distinguished without an inspection of the hyme- 

 nium, so closely do they resemble each other in size, shape and color. 

 The species of Oaterellus have the hymenium nearly even, or merely 

 rugose or rugose- wrinkled, the folds or wrinkles being irregular or 

 indistinct, or so interwoven and lost in each other and in the hyme- 

 nium that any particular one cannot readily be traced from the stem 

 to the margin of the pileus, as they can be in species of Cantharellus. 

 In the same species the wrinkles are more distinct in some specimens 

 than in others, and often they are more distinct in the fresh plant 

 than in the dried one. In all our species the hymenium is decurreut. 

 The pileus is frequently more or less split or lobed on the margin 

 and sometimes is divided nearly to its base. It is not clear why the 

 genus should be characterized as "autumnal," for some of the species 

 occur as early as July. In some of the older works these fungi are 

 distributed in the genera Cantharellus, Merulius, Elvella and Peziza. 

 The name Craterellus signifies a little cup, and has reference to the 

 shape of the pileus in some species. 



