has noted specimens where the spore-sac protrudes through the mouth 
slits, thus confirming Massee’s statement. We have never seen 
specimens. 
We have received another consignment of Mitremyces Ravenelii 
var. minor, from F. J. Tyler, and they are exactly as the previous lot 
—no connecting forms between them and the ordinary form of Mitre¬ 
myces Ravenelii. We feel that in time this “variety ” will be entitled 
to a specific rank. 
259—TREMELLODON GELATINOSUM. 
There are certain characters that in the Friesian system are 
associated with certain tribes or alliances of plants. Thus spines with 
the Hydnei; gills with Agarics; pores with the Polyporei; gelatinous 
texture with the Tremellae, etc. (*) Occasionally we find a plant 
combining two of these characters, and then, of course, there is a 
diversity of opinion as to its classi¬ 
fication. Such a plant is the one 
named above. With the gelatinous 
texture of the Tremellae it has 
the spines of the Hydnei. Fries, 
Stevenson and others class it as a 
Hydnei; the modern writers, on 
aecount of its basidia, with the 
Tremellae. 
The plant seems to be common 
in Europe, and has been illustrated 
a number of times. In this coun¬ 
try it seems to be rarer. It is not 
mentioned in Atkinson’s work, and 
we do not find it in the index of the 
first 27 reports of Peck. We are 
under the impression, however, that Peck has recorded it somewhere. 
We gathered it last summer on logs in Northern Michigan. There is 
no necessity of a detailed description of it here. With our illustration 
and the fact that it has the soft tremulose structure of a Tremellae 
and the spines of a Hydnum no one can mistake it. Our plant does 
not have the long stipe shown in illustration of Engler and Prantl. 
Fig. 70. 
Tremellodon gelatinosum. 
260—N OMENCL ATURE. 
“ I see you stand up firmly against the criticisms in reference to 
omission of authors’ names. The evils you deplore for much of the 
egotistical practice I fully appreciate, and I can indorse all you say on 
that point. In spite of this, I am bound to say that my experience 
from day to day convinces me more thoroughly that endless confusion 
must result by the summary sacrifice of author citation. In the group 
(*) In the new system that is being gradually evolved, based primarily on basidia structure! 
the prominent characters of configuration are only secondary in importance. It may be more 
scientific, but I am partial to the Friesian system. The simpler we make classification the more 
persons we will interest in the study, and the more facts and information will be published about 
the plants. 
Minute anatomical studies are of interest, but only a comparative few have the patience or 
the skill to follow them out, and to make a knowledge of them the first requisite of classification 
debars a great number of workers. 
147 
