On the Biology of Bulgaria polymorpha, 
Wett. 
BY 
R. H. BIFFEN, 
Botanist to the Agricultural Department , late Demonstrator of Botany 
in the University of Cambridge. 
With Plate VII. 
1QULGARIA POL V MORPH A in the neighbourhood of 
A A Cambridge is usually to be found on the bark of oak- 
trees which have been felled and allowed to lie in the woods 
for a year or two, but it has been recorded on living beech 
by Massee 1 , and again by Hennings on living oak 2 . Ludwig 
even considers it as a dangerous parasite on the oak 3 . As 
a rule the Fungus is a saprophyte, but as is so often the case, 
it is at times capable of becoming parasitic. De Bary calls 
such Fungi facultative parasites. 
The Fungus has been described under the name of Peziza 
polymorpha by Oeder, Peziza inquinans by Persoon, Bulgaria 
inqninans by Phillips and Saccardo, and Bulgaria polymorpha 
by Wettstein 4 . 
1 Massee, Textbook of Plant Diseases, 1899, P* 162. 
2 Hennings, Zeitschrift fur Pflanzenkrankherten, iv, 266, 1894. 
3 Ludwig, Centr. fur Bakt., 2. 521 and 3. 633. 
4 Oeder, Flor. Dan., t. 464 (1768); Persoon, Syn. Fung., p. 631 (1801); 
Phillips, Brit. Disc., p. 314, 1887 ; Saccardo, Syll., viii, n. 2625 ; Wettstein, Zool.- 
Bot. Verh., 1886, p. 595. For figures see Rehm, Krypt.-Flora, Discomycetes, 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XV. No. LVII. March, 1901.] 
