308 



Mycologia 



empty cavities. The flesh is very much like certain forms of 

 Peziza. At Alma under pines there were collected a dozen plants 

 in the month of March in very wet ground. These plants were 

 all partly exposed at the surface of the ground and without any 

 leafy covering. The plants in this collection were all over five 

 centimeters in size and one measured nine centimeters in its largest 

 diameter. At Saratoga the species was found under a great depth 

 of humus and again proved to be of very large size, 7 cm., and 

 still later in the season it was found at Guadaloupe Mines in open 

 rocky ground under oaks. While numerous smaller plants fully 

 matured have been found, these large plants seem to be very com- 

 mon, in so far as this rather rare species may be called common. 

 I think, from my experience, that the plant is widely distributed 

 and abundant in moist years and is rare only for lack of those to 

 collect it. This is large enough and abundant enough to be of 

 value for food purposes, although it is not aromatic. 



Tuber calif ornicum is widely distributed and in some seasons 

 very abundant, especially under oaks in moist clay soil. It is to 

 be found on the surface of the soil or just below the surface. 

 Many specimens are to be had by raking over the leaves of solitary 

 oaks or on the edges of oak forests. Frequently the species attains 

 a size of four or five centimeters, which is rather larger than 

 described. It is white and very conspicuous, globose or roughly 

 lobed, frequently irregular in shape and is sometimes deeply 

 cracked in developing. The gleba is at first white, but later ap- 

 pears to be brown. This effect is seen as the spores arrive at 

 maturity, when it appears to be filled with tiny grains of pepper. 

 Its maturity is detected without the aid of a lens. Although this 

 species is edible, it is a trifle astringent to the taste. Aside from 

 this it has no particular flavor. One of the difficulties in collecting 

 this plant for food is the fact that small slugs attack it in its early 

 stages and riddle the gleba, leaving in the end only the peridium 

 as an empty shell. Nematodes and larvae of a tiny black fly also 

 infest the plants once they are opened by the slugs. At Alma 

 I have found dozens of the small immature plants in very wet soil 

 early in the season, but later, when they should have reached 

 maturity, not one plant could be seen. Spore dispersal is secured 

 •by means of the slugs. 



