SCLEROTIUM SUBTERRANEUM.Orange Sclerotium.

Class and Order CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI, Linn _Nat. Ord. GASTROMYCI?

Link , Grev.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Massa subglobosa aut difformis, intus homogenea, vesiculosa, carnosa, vel cornea.(Sporulce incognita!.)

A subglobose or shapeless mass, within homogeneous, vesiculose, fleshy orcorneous. (Sporules have not been discovered.)

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Sclerotium subterraneum ; gregarium, spongiosum, rotundatum sed valde in-cequale quandoque lobatum ; colore omnino aureo-fiavo vel albido.

Sc. gregarious, spongy, rounded but very unequal, sometimes lobed ; co-lour wholly orange-yellow or whitish.

Sclerotium subterraneum, Tode, Meckl. Fung. 1 . p. 3. t. 1 . f. 5.— Alb. etSchwein. p. 73.— De Cand. in Mem. du Mus. v. 2. p. 401. No. 3.— Grev.FI. Edin. p. 461.

Sclerotium Muscorum, Pers. Syn. Fung. p. 120.— Schwein. Syn. Fung.Carol. No. 308.

Hab. Attached to the roots or decaying stems of mosses, or on dead woodand roots of trees beneath the surface of the soil. Summit of Ben-Reishapol, W. C. Trevelyan, Esq. On various Highland mountains,chiefly growing on Trichostomum lanuginosum. Between Newhaven andCaroline Park, near Edinburgh , on Hypnum squarrosum. Autumn.

Aggregated, rounded, extremely irregular, tuberculated or lobed, fine orange,yellowish or whitish; of a spongy yet firm substance, solid, homogeneousthroughout, and of a similar colour; varying in size from 1 line or lessto 4 or 5 lines in diameter, the whitish variety being the largest.

This species of Sclerotium is probably of frequent occur-rence, but has not been often observed either in this country oron the Continent. Its peculiar place of growth is sufficient toaccount for the paucity of in formation concerning it. In theneighbourhood of Edinburgh , I have repeatedly met with it,VOL. II.

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