NOTES ON PEZIZA. 
45 
blossoms, each little black swelling (sclerotium) in the buried petals, 
instinct with life, unfolds a hidden germ that sends up its tiny, thread¬ 
like stem through the overlaying mass of decaying leaves and vegetable 
debris, bending and turning itself here and there, to avoid obstructions, 
on its way to the sunlight and the summer air, which having reached at 
length, it rises straight above the surface for f of an inch or thereabouts, 
when its apex expands into a liver-colored, or circular disk about i of an 
inch across, and slightly convex, or nearly plane above. The upper sur¬ 
face of this disk is covered with a layer of closely-packed, erect, cylin¬ 
drical sacks, like the nap on velvet. Each of these sacks (asci) contains 
eight oblong-elliptical, transparent bodies called “ sporidia,” which are 
supposed to be capable of reproducing the species — supposed, we say, for 
all fungus spores are so minute that, although their germination may be 
readily watched under the microscope, it is hardly possible to follow the 
succeeding changes through all the different stages of development to the 
reproduction of a perfect specimen of a given species. It would be deep¬ 
ly interesting to know the exact manner in which this curious little plant 
perpetuates itself--how it is that, year after year, the fallen petals should 
continue to produce this wonderful little organism. It is not irrational to 
suppose, since the sporidia are readily discharged from the little sacks that 
contain them,— so abundantly, in fact that, in many of the larger spe¬ 
cies, they may be seen rising into the air, like steam or vapor, when the 
mature specimen is jarred or shaken,— that these sporidia find a lodge¬ 
ment on the petals, either before or after they have fallen from the tree, 
and, germinating, produce the swellings from which the mature Eeziza 
will at length appeal-. 
Another similar species ( P. incondita ) is found growing in company 
with the one just spoken of. There is the same black sclerotoid base, 
only, for the most part, larger (i—i of an inch across ), convex on one 
side and concave on the other, sending up from some point in its margin 
a rather stout brown stem, expanding, as before, at its apex into a round, 
flat disk, producing asci and sporidia. This species differs from the first 
principally in its larger size and in the fact that the black sclerotium 
from which it grows is found lying among moss or on the bare soil, and 
not attached to any decaying leaf or other substance, nor buried in the 
mud, so that the stem, which is from f to 1 inch high, rises perfectly 
straight and erect, without any tortuous base, as in the first-mentioned 
species, which had to force its way through the overlying mud and 
leaves. 
Still a third species (P. nyssregena), somewhat similar to the two 
already mentioned, has been found growing from the bony seeds of the 
sour gum f Nyssa ). The seeds, or nutlets, much resemble, in size and 
appearance, small cherry stones, and it is from one of the pointed ends 
that the stem of the Peziza proceeds, from the same point where the 
germ of the seed itself would have issued. The seeds producing this 
Teziza. like the petals in the first-mentioned species, are buried for an 
