52 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
Pholiota praecox. Pers. (Fig. 20.) 
The mycelial strands of Pholiota praecox were collected from 
a mass of decaying leaves. A large number of mature caps were 
removed with all the connecting mycelial strands. The rotten 
leaves w r ere easily pulled away leaving the strands free from all 
foreign matter. The strands were cut into pieces one fourth 
inch in length from the tip and from the older parts which show 
the branching. 
The outside of the strand is covered by a thin layer of loosely 
tangled thick walled hyphae which doubtless serves as a protec¬ 
tive layer. Beneath this is the main portion of the strand which 
has the same structure throughout with no differentiation into 
medulla and cortex. It is formed principally of large thin 
walled hyphae which show some slight regularity of'* arrangement 
although the longitudinal rows of cells so pronounced in Armiil- 
aria were not found. In some parts of the strands there are 
a few central hyphae that run very nearly straight. On both 
sides of this central strand the hyphae grow obliquely towards 
the surface. In other parts bundles of thirty or more hyphae, 
slightly entwined with one another coil around similar bundles 
or separate hyphae. Frequently it was impossible to make out 
any regular arrangement. The great majority of hyphae are 
formed of large cells but arising as secondary branches from 
them are a few narrow celled hyphae which run in the same di¬ 
rection as the larger hyphae until they reach the surface. At 
the surface instead of turning back towards the center as do the 
larger hyphae their walls become thickened and they form the 
felted layer. Thus the outer felt consists of the thickened term¬ 
inal portions of the slender hyphae of the interior. 
It is only by very careful staining with the triple stain that I 
was able to make out the contents of the cells. The walls of the 
large cells are partly gelatinized and have lost their smooth out¬ 
line becoming wrinkled and creased. There is a very thin layer 
of cytoplasm with small light staining granules. The nuclei are 
flattened against the walls by the central vacuole. They are 
large and distinct with a very small nucleole on the side towards 
one end of the cell and a deeply staining body, probably a cen- 
