■ 208 



near the broad entire apices; spores subglobose or broadly ellip- 

 tical, .0002 to .00025 in. long, .00016 to .0002 broad. 



Trexlertown. August. Herbst. 



The species is evidently closely allied to S. spathidata Schw., 

 but differs especially in its paler color, with no rufescent hues, in its 

 much more branching habit and in the absence of any distinct 

 zones. 



Battarrea attenuata. Exoperidium unknown ; endoperidium 

 2 in. or more in breadth, the basal part hard, thick, even and con- 

 cave beneath, convex above and somewhat coarsely reticulate by 

 the bounding walls of broad shallow pits; stem 8 to 10 in. long, 

 gradually attenuated toward the base, hard, almost woody, solid, 

 rough except at the top with rather coarse spreading or reflexed 

 scales, brown externally, rusty-brown within; spores globose, 

 ferruginous, .0003 in. broad ; threads of the capillitium destitute 

 of spiral thickenings. 



Plants commonly growing in tufts of 3 to 5 individuals. 



Dry sandy soil. Nevada. Collected by C. W. Irish; com- 

 municated by Dr. Thomas Taylor. 



The single dried specimen from which, with notes kindly com- 

 municated by the collector, the above description was derived, 

 was past maturity and destitute of any volva or exoperidium. 

 The upper part of the endoperidium, which is apparently mem- 

 branous, had nearly all disappeared, and but a mere remnant of 

 the spores and capillitium remained. It is very unsatisfactory to 

 attempt the description of a species from such imperfect data, yet 

 the characters seen are so peculiar and distinct that I have been 

 willing to strain a point in order to make this remarkable plant 

 known. It does not agree rigidly with the characters ascribed to 

 the genus Battarrea, differing apparently in the solid stem, the 

 absence of spiral thickenings in the capillitium threads and in the 

 coarsely pitted subreticulate hymenial substratum, so that it might 

 easily be taken as the type of a distinct genus. 



The dried specimen has a strong, unpleasant odor, indicating 

 its relationship to the Phalloideae. From the notes of Mr. Irish 

 we learn that the long stem, which is about half an inch thick at 

 the base and one and a half at the top, is almost wholly buried in 

 the soil, and that the plants appear above the surface only in 

 seasons after heavy snow falls, whose gradual melting has moist- 

 ened the earth deeply. 



