THE AMERICAN BOTAXTST. 
23 
grow from six to eight inches across, and this, indeed, is tl 
average size, but the two-foot rule in our ilUistration shov 
that th.e s])ec!men from which the photograph was made w; 
quite four feet across. The plant grows u[xmi standing ( 
fallen timber, and w^.- ■ ■ " ' '-Ols oftc 
decoraccs tliem from \ >- ' ciusti 
of the beautiful spr.r :i tl 
come do the fruiting parts api>ear, and as soon as the spores 
are shed they shrivel. 
The bear's head Hydnum {H. catii:'::rsi ). is said to be 
more common tlian the coral mushroom, but we have not 
found it so. In this latier si^ecies the spines are longer, often 
reaching the length of an inch, and are inclined to l>e as- 
sembled in groups at the ends of the short branches. It ap- 
parently never grows as large as H. coralloidcs, though the 
Lloyd Museum has a specimen that mu^t liave been twenty 
inches in diameter. The /.Icdusa's :iead Ilyd:iiihi [H. ca- 
put Medusae), scarcely branch.c>. Ii has hniger spines than 
the preceding, and the u.pi>er uwc^ arc i-clined to twist about 
in imitati(jn oi the snaky locks o.i ^\\c mythok>gical personage 
for whom the plant is namc-l T'lis sjxicies is noi common, 
but if found may be further distinguished from /-/. cai-rt-ursi 
by the fact that it turns to ash color in drying, instead or 
becoming brown. The Satyr'^ beard ( //. cnKJce-f.i ■ \^ 
anotl-.er species that is not uncommf^n. In t'r.i- li^e =pine- 
often reach a length of four inches. 
All the species here mentioned are harm.Iess. m-I'.}. ten- 
der and edible. Some of them have a slightly acrid or bitter 
