136—EXPLANATION OF A CUT. 
Concerning the cuts in the recent work by Ellen H. Dallas and 
Caroline A. Burgin, entitled “Among the Mushrooms,” one illustration 
perhaps needs explanation. When Mrs. Dallas applied to me for phot¬ 
ographs to illustrate the book and requested the photograph of an ama¬ 
nita breaking from the volva, the best species to have illustrated this 
would have been Amanita phalloides or Amanita caesarea. Unfortun¬ 
ately, both of these plants occur but rarely in the vicinity of this city 
and I had no photograph that I could furnish of either of them. I 
happened to have however, a photograph of Amanita vaginata as it 
breaks from the volva, but it needs an explanation Amanita vaginata 
is a very common species everywhere The volva however, is usually 
deeply buried in the ground and you may collect the plant year after 
year abundantly and never see it break from the volva as shown in the 
illustration It is unusual to find it in the condition that I have photo¬ 
graphed it and for this reason perhaps the photograph should not have 
been given as an illustration of “an amanita breaking from its volva.” 
137—A PUZZLING LITTLE PLANT. 
NYOTALIS ASTEROPHORA. 
Several seasons ago while collecting at Trexlertown, Pa. with 
my friend Dr. Herbst, we found growing on dead Russulas the little 
plant figured herewith. It was a clavate body bearing a dense coat of 
stellate spores on its upper surface. When very young these spores 
were covered with a thin membrane, which as the spores ripened, 
broke into fragments and peeled off. Mail)" long discussions had Dr. 
'Herbst and I regarding the nature of this plant, Dr. Herbst thought it 
was Nyctalis asterophora and that the spores 
were those of some parasitic Hypomyces that 
deformed the plant similar to the way the 
common Hypomyces Eactifluoruni deforms 
species of Uaetarius. Our knowledge of 
Nyctalis asterophora at that time was confined 
„ Fig 39. to Cooke’s figure (a developed gill-bearing 
Nyctalis asterophora. . ° 1 . 1 v 
(Natural size.) specimen to which our deformed plants had 
not the slightest resemblance) and Fries’ statement “the powder cover¬ 
ing the pileus under the microscope consists of stellate, hexagonal 
spores. Is it not a parasitic mucor?” 
I contended that it could not be that plant for the “powder” 
was not parasitic else the plant would not develop a special membrane 
to protect it when young. I believed that the spores belonged to the 
plant and that is was something akin to a gastromycetes. 
Since those days we have learned a great deal more about the 
plant and it has puzzled the European mycologists as much as it did us. 
Specimens sent to Ellis, Patouillard and Bresadola, have fully confirm¬ 
ed Dr. Herbst’ opinion that the plant is Nyctalis asterophora. The 
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