Parks: California Hypogaeous Fungi 313 



soil under oaks and pines, usually at a depth of one or two inches, 

 in close association with a conspicuous mycelium, and usually with 

 a large number of plants in close relation, although not seen in 

 clusters. Although the plants are, as a rule, less than two centi- 

 meters in size, they are conspicuous in color and easily seen. 

 Plants more or less globose or flattened at the apex where the 

 venae externae converge. The peridium is sharply verrucose, 

 somewhat variable in color, gleba white with large asci and spores 

 easily identified. Some plants collected in May and June of this 

 year appear to be this species, but were larger and of a very bright 

 orange color. 



A variety of this species, var. nigra, has been collected rarely 

 and is little known. What has appeared to be this form appears 

 scattered and solitary on the surface of the ground under laurels. 

 A recent collection of what appeared to be this species, however, 

 gives asci and spores of a very distinct nature and is probably a 

 distinct species, although the general shape is typical of the species. 



Pachyphloeus citrinius is not at all well known and the collec- 

 tions are all referred with some doubt. It has appeared twice dur- 

 ing the last season in ground that has been searched for the last 

 six years. Just under the surface of the soil under oaks and 

 Heteromeles sp. The surface of the plant is covered with minute 

 warts, is of a dark red color, with several folds near the base, a 

 definite mycelial attachment. Plants are globose and with a very 

 deep opening at the center of the apex where the venae externae 

 converge. The tissue of these plants was blood red. 



Elaphomyces variegatus is found at various points pretty well 

 buried in the loose soil. It appears in a conspicuous bed of yellow 

 mycelium and is at maturity a large yellow plant very conspicuous 

 in appearance. It is found from January to June following the 

 moisture zones down the hillsides in dense forests. It develops 

 from two to ten inches deep in the soil and reaches a size of 3-4 

 centimeters, and is globose, roughly warted, with large cells filled 

 with a colorless tissue making up the gleba. The asci dissolve at 

 a very young stage. In maturity the gleba becomes a powdery 

 dark mass of spores resembling a form of Scleroderma. 



Endogone macrocarpa occurs in many places as isolated plants, 



