OCTAVIANIA — MELANOGASTER. 13 



Adhering to branches, leaves, &c., underground. 



From ^ to 1^ in. across, mycelium cottony, abundant ; 

 whitish, becoming stained with greenish-blue or black when 

 bruised and exposed to air. 



Octaviania Stephensii. Tul. 



Irregularly elongated, rufous, base more or less plicate, 

 with branched cord-like mycelial strands ; within white, 

 becoming red when exposed ; cavities minute ; spores globose, 

 echinulate, pale brown, 11-17 /x. 



Octaviania Stephensii, Tul., Fung. Hypog. 78, pi. xxi., f. vi. ; 

 Mass., Mon. Gast. p. 32, f. 3. 



Mydnangium Stevensii, Berk., Ann. Nat. Hist, xviii. p. 76. 



Amongst loose soil ; from ^ to f in. across ; giving out a 

 white mUk-like fluid when cut. 



Octaviania compacta. Tul. 



Small, gregarious, irregularly globose, whitish, minutely 

 cottony, furnished with a dense mass of white mycelium ; 

 cavities irregular, septa indistinct ; spores minutely warted, 

 yellow, 5-6 /a. 



Octaviana compacta, Tul., Giorn. Bot. Ital. ii. p. 56 ; Mass., 

 Mon. Gast., p. 32, f. 12. 



Underground or partly exposed ; from 5^ to ^ in. across. 



MELANOGASTER. Corda. (fig. 6, p. 11.) 



Peridium without a distinct sterile rooting base, branclied 

 root-like mycelial strands springing from every part of the 

 surface ; cavities of gleba small at the circumference, larger 

 in the centre ; tramal plates thick ; spores smooth, coloured 

 or colourless. 



Melanogaster, Corda, ap. Sturm., Deutsch. Fl. iii. 1], p. 1; 

 Mass., Mon. Gast., p. 33. 



The present genus is characterised by the smooth spores, 

 absence of sterUe rooting base, and the cord-like strands of 

 mycelium springing from various points of the surface of the 

 peridium, 



Melanogaster variegatus. Tul. (fig, 6, p. 11.) 

 Subglobose, ochraceous or yellowish, then ferruginous ; 

 tramal plates changing from white'to orange; spores brown, 

 elliptic-oblong, 10 x 5 /n. 



