THE CANADIAN TUCKAHOE 



H. T. Giissow 

 (With Plates 7-9) 



During some eight years past there have been received and 

 examined, from the wooded regions (principally poplar woods) 

 of the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, a number of 

 large fungous sclerotia, such as one finds occasionally referred 

 to in literature. Nearly all these references are sufficiently defi- 

 nite in showing that sclerotia similar to those under examination 

 here have been frequently enough observed, but all records are 

 as cautious as they are meager in supplying critical information 

 relating to the classification of these sclerotia. 



Of the twenty and more specimens seen from time to time, it 

 may be said that they agree in character, appearance and composi- 

 tion, and no doubt are all identical. 



They ranged from the size of a hen's egg to that of a cocoanut 

 still within its fibrous covering. The largest specimen seen by us 

 was an oval body and measured when fresh 22 inches by 33^ 

 inches in circumference ; its weight was 8 lbs. 4 ozs. After sev- 

 eral years' drying, this sclerotium was reduced in size to 20 inches 

 by 29 inches, and in weight to 6 lbs. 13 ozs. 



On arrival and while still fresh, these masses bounce like a 

 solid rubber ball, though not quite as readily. The exterior is 

 coal black, not glossy but quite mat. They often contain a num- 

 ber of small stones ; in one case one as large as a hen's egg was 

 more than three quarters firmly embedded. Generally there were 

 exhibited grooves resulting from enclosed roots, which in most 

 cases, however, had rotted away. One of these grooves is plainly 

 shown in the left-hand specimen of Plate 7. The external struc- 

 ture is not very definite, showing merely minute irregular 

 fissures. 



In cutting through a specimen, the knife frequently strikes 

 embedded grains of sand and small stones. The crust of the 



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