MILDEWS AND RELATED FUNGI 171 



irregular ridges, the whole cap being more or less conic. The stem is 

 3 to 12 cm. by 2 to 6 cm., white and hoUow. The spores are elliptic, 

 clear, smooth, 20 to 22 by 10 to 12/it. M. esculenta, the common 

 Morel, has a cap 3 to 7 cm. tall and 2 to 4 cm. wide, of a yellowish- 

 brown to brown color, covered with very regular ribs with a blunt 

 edge. The spores are smooth, elliptic, clear, 14 to 22/1 by 8 to 14;^. 

 It grows on the ground in woods and forest openings, and is a deUcious 

 morsel. 



Gyromilra has a more irregular cap more or less inflated and folded, 

 the edge united in places with the stem. G. esculenta has a rounded 

 lobed pileus, irregular, gyrose-convolute, smooth and bay-red. Its 

 stem is stout, stuffed, or hollow. The ascospKjres are elliptic, yellow- 

 ish, 20 to 22/1 long. It grows in wet ravines, or springy places in the 

 vicinity of pine groves, or pine trees. G. brunnea is brown in color and 

 is figured by Clements in his "Minnesota Mushrooms," page 143. 



Verpa digiUUiformis grows on ground in woods. It has a brown, or 

 dark brown, smooth, bell-shaped cap with a long finger-like stem, 

 beneath, hence the specific name. Verpa hohetnua is the "ribbed 

 verpa" and is delicious eating. 



The cap in the genus Helvella hangs loosely over the stem and it is 

 saddle-shaped more or less lobed. The stem is ribbed. The ascigeral 

 layer is confined to the upper side of the cap. All of the species are 

 edible. Helvella crispa is a common species and has been collected in 

 West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It is white or whitish 

 in color, while H. lacunosa is gray to almost black. 



Family 3. CYTTAKiACEiE. — ^This family is represented by the 

 single genus Cyttaria with a tuber-Uke stroma in which the apothecia 

 are sunken. The stroma, which arises on the antarctic beech, Kotho- 

 fagus, in South America and Tasmania, is stalked. The asci are cylin- 

 dric and eight-spored. The spores are ellipsoidal and hyaline. The 

 paraphyses are filamentous, breaking down into mucilage. The cylin- 

 dric asci bear elliptic hyaline spores. Six species have been described 

 from Patagonia, Tasmania and Terra del Fuego. 



Family 4. Rhizinace.*:. — The fruit bodies of the fungi of this 

 small family are stalkless and they are fleshy and waxy in consistency. 

 Four genera are included. 



Suborder H. Laboulbeniineae. — We owe our knowledge of these 

 eccentric or singular fungi to four botanists: J. Pej-ritsch, G. Lindau, 



