280 



Mycologia 



in Saccardo. For the most part they can be referred to Daldinia 

 concentrica, which is a common and widely distributed plant oc- 

 curring in almost every country in the world. In Australia this 

 species assumes large size, frequently becoming two or three 

 inches in diameter as it sometimes does in the western United 

 States. In Europe, Daldinia durissima was proposed by Fries 

 many years ago, but, according to Lloyd (3), no one else ever 

 found it, a type at Kew being only the common D. concentrica. 

 Massee found a specimen in tropical America (Trinidad) which 

 he named Daldinia aspera. Lloyd, however, states that this spec- 

 imen is not a Daldinia (3) at all but a Hypoxylon, probably H. 

 cerebrinum (4). Leveille discovered two species in the United 

 States, D. cingulata and D. loculata, but Lloyd (3) states that 

 both are the common D. concentrica. Two well-known and ap- 

 parently distinct species of Daldinia occur within the United 

 States, namely D. concentrica (Bolt.) Ces. & De Not. and D. ver- 

 nicosa (Schw.) Ces. & De Not. 



Peck (5), in his list of the plants of North Elba, reports Dal- 

 dinia vernicosa on dead trunks of young, standing deciduous trees. 

 He states that it is very doubtful if this and D. concentrica are 

 really distinct species, and is of the opinion that connecting forms 

 occur. It would appear that Peck had not collected Daldinia ver- 

 nicosa as typified by the specimens in the Schweinitzian her- 

 barium, for, if he had done so, it is difficult to see how such speci- 

 mens could be considered identical with D. concentrica. 



The stroma of Daldinia concentrica is subglobose or hem- 

 ispheric, or rarely obovoid, while that of D. vernicosa is sub- 

 turbinate and sometimes contracted behind into a thick stipe-like 

 base which is often concentrically wrinkled. The stromata of 

 both species become black when mature, but that of D. vernicosa 

 becomes distinctly shining. When young and immature the 

 stroma of D. vernicosa contains a large quantity of a colorless 

 gelatinous substance which dries down at maturity, forming the 

 radiate-fibrous substance between the concentric zones. At ma- 

 turity practically all of the substance between the thin, blackish, 

 concentric zones under the terminal, monostichous perithecial 

 layer is made up of a colorless, radiate-fibrous, dry-gelatinous 



