onal view of mature plant.

FIG. 10. =Mitrula vitellina= Sacc., var. _irregularis_ Peck.

Saccardo, in his Sylloge Fungorum, includes in this genus those having a
club-shaped cap, which brings into it, with others, the species Mitrula
_vitellina_ Sacc., formerly classed in the genus Geoglossum, and its
variety _irregularis_ Peck. The latter was first described in 1879, in
Peck's Thirty-Second Report, under the name Geoglossum _irregulare_.
Prof. Peck now gives preference to the name assigned to it by Saccardo,
and it is so recorded in Peck's later reports.

Prof. Peck records this species as edible, and recommends it as having
tender flesh and an agreeable flavor. It sometimes grows in profusion in
wet mossy places, in woods, or swampy ground. It is bright yellow in
color, clean and attractive. The cap is much longer than the stem, often
deeply lobed, extremely irregular in outline, and tapers to a short
yellowish or whitish stem. The spores are narrowly elliptical and
transparent. The specimen illustrated is from a small one figured by
Peck. The plants sometimes reach two inches in height. They are most
abundant in temperate climates.

[Illustration: Plate D.
FOUR TYPES OF THE GENUS MORCHELLA.
T. TAYLOR, DEL.
THE NORRIS PETERS CO., PHOTO-LITHO., WASHINGTON, D. C.]

PLATE D.

In Plate D are represented four species of the genus Morchella, viz., M.
_semilibera_, M. _bispora_, M. _conica_, and M. _deliciosa_. Morchella
_esculenta_ is figured in Plate C.

FIG. 1. =Morchella semilibera= De Candolle. "_Half Free Morel_."

EDIBLE.

Cap conical but half free from the stem as the name of the species
indicates. The ribs are longitudinal, forming oblong pits; stem hollow,
much longer than the cap, white; spores elliptical. Peck says that this
species has been described by Persoon under the name Morchella
_hybrida_, and this name is adopted in Saccardo's Sylloge Fungorum, but
most English writers prefer the first.

Fig. 2. Sectional view of Morchella _semilibera_.

Fig. 8. Sporidia of same inclosed in ascus with accompanying
paraphyses.

FIG. 3. Sectional view of =Morchella bispora= Sorokin. "_Two-Spored
Morel_."

EDIBLE.

Cap free from the stem to the top, somewhat resembling that of M.
_semilibera_, but blunt at its summit instead of conical, the outward
surface deeply pitted, inner surface smooth and barren. A characteristic
of this species which disting