THE OCCURRENCE OF BULGARIA PLATY- 

 DISCUS IN CANADA 



A. W. McCallum 

 (With Plate 14) 



Between May 9 and 15 of this year, collections of a rather rare 

 and remarkable fungus were made at Val de Bois, P. Q., in the 

 valley of the Lievre River by Mrs. R. A. Inglis and Mrs. H. T. 

 Giissow. The plants which were collected — 15 to 20 in number — 

 were gregarious in habit, occurring within the space of a few 

 square feet, and nowhere else could others be found. They were 

 growing beneath some coniferous trees in a bed of needles and 

 humus, and from a distance they appeared like small stumps of 

 young black birches — perfectly flat tops from one to two inches 

 above the ground. At this time they were immature. 



When the plants were received at this laoratory, several were 

 placed in a moist chamber and allowed to come to maturity. In 

 size, the apothecia varied from 6^10 cm. in width by 4-8 cm. in 

 height. They were globose, sessile, dull-brownish-black in color, 

 spongy in texture and furrowed both vertically and horizontally. 

 Attached to the base were a few fine, branched, rhizomorph-like 

 strands. The exterior of the apothecia was covered by a dense, 

 felty layer of dark-brown hyphae, up to 400 in length and 10 /x 

 in diameter, multiseptate and somewhat constricted at the septa. 

 These hyphae arose from the outer side of a single row of very 

 dark brown, rounded, pseudoparenchymatous cells. Arising from 

 the inner side of this same row of cells, and forming a tangled 

 network in the colorless jelly-like mass which occupied the whole 

 interior of the apothecia, were innumerable, slender, hyaline 

 hyphae, 4-5 /x in diameter. These assumed the most fantastic 

 tendril-like forms and showed very curious connections. A spiral 

 formation of these hyphae was very common. Probably their 

 function is to give stability to the jelly-like contents of the apo- 



293 



