226 



Mycologia 



no harm and some conjectures as to their probable nature and 

 origin may be of sufficient interest to lead to further investigation. 



I have two specimens, one simple and the other branched as 

 shown in the figure, so as to resemble a clumsy foot of bird or 

 beast with two double toes. The branched one shows four zones 

 of growth, and, about an inch from the tips of the spreading 

 "toes," the color changes from uniform dark-avellaneous with a 

 brownish tint to dirty-white with here and there a creamy tint, 

 which is also the color of the interior. If there is a cortex, it is 

 very thin and chiefly distinguished by the change in color, but 

 there is a definite tendency in the growths to take definite shape 

 and limit their development both laterally and longitudinally. 



These growths are heavy and almost entirely composed of 

 sand, which may be felt over the whole surface and seen under a 

 hand lens intimately mixed with fungous mycelium. The cen- 

 tral core is free from sand, being composed of the decayed re- 

 mains of a root or other form of vegetable matter showing large 

 vascular elements. Sand is also absent from the growing tips of 

 both specimens in one or two limited areas where the mycelium 

 has massed on the surface in a thin white layer or in the form of 

 brown punky tissue as though a fruiting surface of some kind 

 were about to be formed. 



It is probable that these masses of mycelium developed in asso- 

 ciation with roots surrounded by sand, which was intimately in- 

 cluded by the mycelium as it grew. It may be that the sand wan 

 moist when the growths developed and afterwards became dry 

 and shifted so as to reveal the growths. Forms similar to these 

 often occur in mines and other dark places where developing 

 sporophores are seeking the light ; the darkness causing them to 

 remain sterile and very abnormal in form and color. The 

 Tuckahoe is an underground sclerotium, or mass of resting 

 mycelium, which sends up a sporophore when the proper time 

 arrives and the conditions are suitable. 



W. A. MURRILL 



