264 Massee — A Monograph of the Geoglosseae. 
Mitrula, Fries, Syst. Myc. i, 491, 1821. 
Geoglossum, Pers., Obs. Myc. i, 1 1, 1796, in part. 
Microglossum, Sacc., Consp. Gen. Disc., Bot. Centralb. xviii, 214, 
1884, in part. 
Leploglossum, Cooke, Mycogr. 250 (as a subgenus), 1879; as a 
genus, by Saccardo, Consp. Gen. Disc., in Bot. Centralb. xviii, 214, 
1884, i n part. 
Verpa, Swartz, Vet. Ak. Handl. 129, 1815, in part. 
Clavaria , in part, by old authors. 
The present genus closely resembles in general appearance and 
habit Geoglossum and Spathularia , but differs from both in the 
much shorter, hyaline, elliptical spores being arranged in a 2 -seriate 
or 1 -seriate manner in the ascus. Mitrula laricina often grows on 
heaps of dead leaves that are floating in water. Leotia has similar 
spores, but the ascigerous portion is pileate, with a free margin 
incurved towards the stem. 
Distr. — The twenty- five species included in the present genus have 
collectively a wide area of distribution, extending from Greenland to 
Tasmania, although with one exception — M. rufa — being absent 
from the tropics. The following fifteen, which constitute more than 
half the known species, are, so far as is known, confined to Europe : — 
M. purpurascens , Saccardoa , olivacea, lutescens, vitellina , pusilla , 
sphaerocephala , gracilis , sclerotipes , muscicola , Rehmii , multiforme , 
globosa, sclerotiorum , arenaria. The following also occur in Europe 
and other countries: — M. serpentina , laricina , cucullata , microspora. 
The United States has six species, two of which — M. elegans and 
luteola — are not known from elsewhere. One species only is peculiar 
to the southern hemisphere — M. Berterii — having been collected in 
Juan Fernandez, Tasmania, and New Zealand. 
Kev to the Species. 
I. P ileus with a distinct purple tinge. 
purpurascens. Plant 4-6 cm. high ; every part blackish 
or blackish-brown, with a distinct purple tinge. 
Berterii. Plant about 2 cm. high, slender ; every part 
dark coloured, with a purple tinge. 
