I 



Notes and Brief Articles 291 



of head and length of stipe are easily seen. The dehiscence of 

 the peridium is plain and the exposed mass of spores and capil- 

 litium appears dark in the photographs as in nature. 



Marshall Ward gives a very complete description of the fungus 

 and of his cultural experiments with it in Vol. 191 B of the 

 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London for 

 1899. A brief description of the fungus may not be out of place : 



Fructification rounded, stalked or sessile, 1 to 5 mm. in height ; 

 peridium whitish, dehiscing irregularly or in lobes ; asci globoid, 

 8-spored, 10 to 14 ^ by 14 to 22 n ; ascospores yellowish to hyaline, 

 4 to 5 ix by 7 to 9/x. 



The asci are very difficult to obtain in good condition when 

 dissecting sporocarps which are mature or nearly so since they 

 readily rupture and collapse after the dispersal of the ascospores. 



B. T. Dickson. 



Macdonald College, 

 Quebec, Canada. 



A New Amanita 



This species is dedicated to the discoverer, Professor H. L. 

 Wells, of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, who 

 has carefully studied it for several years. The accompanying- 

 description is drawn up from his ample field notes and photo- 

 graphs. Limited space forbids further discussion of this beau- 

 tiful species here, but a more extended treatment will be prepared 

 by Dr. Kelly and Mr. Krieger from notes and illustrations which 

 I shall furnish them. 



Venenarius Wellsii sp. nov. 



Pileus globose to convex, at length expanded, becoming nearly 

 plane, gregarious, 5 to 10 cm. broad when expanded; surface dry, 

 salmon-colored, fading, especially after a rain, usually remaining 

 more deeply colored on the disk, covered with exceedingly mi- 

 nute, yellowish-buff warts, mostly distributed irregularly in large 

 patches ; margin of young plant usually 'showing a very delicate, 

 bright-yellow tomentum, not striate at first, but becoming dis- 

 tinctly so and showing the gills about halfway to the center, ex- 

 tending beyond the gills about 2 to 3 mm. forming a conspicuous 

 sterile edge, colored like the pileus when viewed from below ; 



