Elliott : Characters of Southern Tuckahoe 223 



history of the various guesses by those who had little or no knowl- 

 edge of mycology. Gore's discussion (5) includes a report by 

 W. H. Seaman on the botanical nature of tuckahoe, in which Sea- 

 man states that he would expect spores to develop from the dark 

 mycelium directly beneath the cortical layer. Nothing, however, 

 is suggested as to the possible generic relation of the fungus. 

 Fischer (3), while he does not go into an exhaustive study of the 

 possible generic relations, suggests, from analogy, that the tuckahoe 

 probably gives rise to a polypore. Bommer (2) took up the study 

 at the point Fischer left off and, after a comparative study of 

 many sclerotia- forming fungi, suggested that P achy ma cocos may 

 either be sterile or may be connected with the genus Lentinus. 



Observations I have made on the tuckahoe have revealed some 

 additional characters which may throw some light on the generic 

 position and the habits of the fungus. Three different specimens 

 have been sent to the Arkansas laboratory. The first was a small 

 specimen with a smooth coat and showing no apparent connection 

 with any foreign object. The other specimens were quite large 

 and, according to the workmen who had dug them, were attached 

 to sumac roots. They were of the rough-coated type generally de- 

 scribed (PI. 17, f . 1 ) . One had been cut off of what was apparently 

 a disintegrating root, the other had a living root slightly attached 

 to one side by an overgrowing rhizomorph. The specimens were 

 cut in halves and tissues from various parts examined microscopi- 

 cally by Prof. H. R. Rosen and myself. Our observations at this 

 time revealed one point that so far as I have been able to ascertain 

 has not been reported previously — i.e., that the finer fungous 

 threads quite commonly show the typical, clamp connections found 

 in basidiomycetes (Fig. 1). 



Fig. 1. Mycelium from Pachyma cocos showing clamp connections, 



