FOSSIL FUNGI ANB GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION 83 



crystallinus, and this in turn by the white flecks of Oospora scabies. 

 Coprinus stcrcorarius usually completes this series of coprophilous 

 fungi generally found on horse dung. Sometimes the Mucor is para- 

 sitized by Piptocephalis and sometimes by Chalocladium. Peziza 

 coccinea is attached to dead twigs buried in the forest leaf mould, and 

 as it rises to the surface, it develops a long stipe with a crimson-red 

 saucer-shaped apothecium at its extremity. Russtda emetica, R. 

 virescens, species of Clavaria and Boletus are regularly found beneath 

 deciduous trees growing out of the forest litter. The puffball. Sclero- 

 derma vulgare, is found on the tops of old stumps in gregarious clusters. 

 Polyporus sulphur eus grows out of partly dead chestnut and oak. trunks; 

 while the hymenophores of Armillaria mellea are found clustered about 

 the bases of trees beneath the bark of which the rhizomorphs wiU be 

 foimd growing. A species of Hydnum was found a few feet above the 

 ground on a beech tree and Fisttdina hepatica attached to tree trunks, 

 where the swollen base gradually blends with the straighter hole above. 

 Amanita muscaria and A. phalloides grow in solitary splendor at the 

 edges of woods and copses, while the habitat of the mushroom in open 

 fields is quite distinctive. 



The earth-star, Geaster hygrometricus, grows more frequently in 

 sandy soil, where it spreads out its peridial segments. 



The habitat of the local species of the lichen fungi is of interest. 

 The brown-fruited cup cladonia, Cladonia pyxidata, grows on stumps 

 md on the earth, while the scarlet-crested cladonia, Cladonia cristatella, 

 is found on dead wood. The Iceland moss, Cetraria islandica, grows 

 ya. the ground as also the reindeer-lichen, Cladonia rangiferina, in ex- 

 :ensive masses. Another earth-inhabiting form is Peltigera canina. 

 The trunks of trees are marked by the presence of Parmelia perlata 

 md the fruticose bearded lichen, Usnea barbata. Smooth bark appears 

 ;overed with runic character traced by the fruit bodies of Graphis 

 icripta. The rock-dwelling lichens include Physcia parietina and the 

 ■ock tripe (tripe de roche), Umbilicaria which grows on the outcrops 

 jf Octorara schists at the Gulph. 



The distribution of the chestnut blight fungus, Endothia parasitica, 

 s of more than local interest, although the agitation to control it 

 itarted near Philadelphia. Apparently the fungus was introduced from 

 rhina, where it has been found recently, with nursery stock into Long 

 Island. From the neighborhood of New York City, it spread northeast, 



