The Occurrence of Bulgaria Platydiscus in Canada

Abstract

Between May 9 and 15 of this year, collections of a rather rare and remarkable fungus were made at Val de Bois, P. Q., in the valley of the Lievre River by Mrs. R. A. Inglis and Mrs. H. T. Giissow. The plants which were collected-I5 to 20 in numberwere gregarious in habit, occurring within the space of a few square feet, and nowhere else could others be found. They were growing beneath some coniferous trees in a bed of needles and humus, and from a distance they appeared like small stumps of young black birches-perfectly flat tops from one to two inches above the ground. At this time they were immature. When the plants were received at this laoratory, several were placed in a moist chamber and allowed to come to maturity. In size, the apothecia varied from 6-Io cm. in width by 4-8 cm. in height. They were globose, sessile, dull-brownish-black in color, spongy in texture and furrowed both vertically and horizontally. Attached to the base were a few fine, branched, rhizomorph-like strands. The exterior of the apothecia was covered by a dense, felty layer of dark-brown hyphae, up to 400 t in length and io / in diameter, multiseptate and somewhat constricted at the septa. These hyphae arose from the outer side of a single row of very dark brown, rounded, pseudoparenchymatous cells. Arising from the inner side of this same row of cells, and forming a tangled network in the colorless jelly-like mass which occupied the whole interior of the apothecia, were innumerable, slender, hyaline hyphae, 4-5 / in diameter. These assumed the most fantastic tendril-like forms and showed very curious connections. A spiral formation of these hyphae was very common. Probably their function is to give stability to the jelly-like contents of the apo293