HELVELLA. 



465 



In pine woods, among moss, &c. 



Specimen from. Fries examined. 



The present species lias by some 

 authorities heen placed in the 

 genus Peziza, used in the broader 

 sense, on account of the concave 

 or cup-shaped form of the young 

 ascophore, but the entire structure 

 is that of Hehella. 



Helvella atra. Konig, 

 Zoega. Fl. Isl.. p. 20 : Cke.. Mrcogr., 

 fig. 167 ; Phil., Brit Disc, p. Hi ; 

 Sacc, Syll., viii. n. 81. 



Solitary, sooty-black or black 

 with a purple shade ; pileus droop- 

 ing on opposite sides, depressed at 

 the centre, usually free from the 

 stem at the sides but close to it, 

 thin, dingy grey when dry, even 

 underneath and minutely fnrfu- 

 raceous, dingy grey, 1-5— 2'5 cm. 

 ac]-oss; margin inclined to turn 

 upwards ; stem 3—5 cm. long, about 

 ^ mm. thick, often slightly thick- 

 ened and more or less lacunose near 

 the base, w^hich is greyish-olive, 

 remainder black, furfnraceo-villose, 

 stuffed ; hypothecium and excipu- 

 lum formed of hyaline, densely 

 interwoven hyphae which pass into 

 a large celled, parenchymatous 

 cortex, the external cells of which 

 run out in chains, clusters of which 



BelveUa heleeHoides, 5Ias3. Section 

 through the ascophore : the hypothecinm 

 (1) is formed of densely interwoven 

 branched septate hyphae i at the central 

 portion the textnre is looser, and changes 

 at the cortex (2) into a parenchyma of 

 polygonal cells, many of which mn ont 

 into hairs forming the scnrfy exterior. 



VOL. IV. 





\_-' 



