198 
]\Iycologia 
them and is frequently collected by his students who know it as 
the “hole in the ground,” since they find it by looking for holes 
in the sandy soil. Mr. Ellis was at first inclined to regard the 
Colorado plants as a new species but finally came to the con- 
clusion that the species was identical with Peziza sepulta Fries, 
according to notes in the Ellis Collection. 
The writer has recently received from Mr. W. H. Long in 
New Mexico fine specimens of a Sepultaria which closely re- 
sembles the species so frequently collected by Bethel in Colorado. 
According to the collector, the New Mexican plants do not pro- 
trude above ground at all in any of the thirty or forty specimens 
collected, although the soil is said to be slightly raised when the 
apothecia break. When mature, small cracks appear in the tops 
of the apothecia which if the soil is not too firm around them 
will expand and finally expose some of the hymenium. The 
New Mexican material was shipped fresh and w’as received in 
excellent condition. From some of this material the accompany- 
ing photographs were made. 
While the New Mexican plants are closely related to Sepul- 
taria arenicola (Lev.) Massee, they seem to differ in the form 
of the spores which are ellipsoid but only slightly longer than 
broad, while those of the former are often twice as long as 
broad. Aside from this, the New Mexican plants appear to 
differ in general habits. Gross characters, however, such as con- 
gested habit are taken with considerable allowance since the 
writer has had no opportunity to make a study of the Colorado 
plants in a fresh condition and the New Mexican plants are 
known only from the specimens described here. From the 
studies which have been made, the New Mexican plants are re- 
garded as distinct. 
Specimens which have been referred to Sepultaria arenicola 
(Lev.) INIas-see, have occasionally been collected in different parts 
of the east, although the species seems like the one here described 
to be characteristic of the dry plains of the west. A number of 
other species have been referred to the genus which are smaller 
and only partially buried. So far as known, the genus at present 
contains five species for North America, including the one here 
described. 
