growing in woods on leaf mold close to the ground. It forms a large
white tubercular mass resting on the ground, from the upper surface of
which numerous stout, short, white processes arise which branch a few
times in a dichotomous manner. The masses are 10--15 cm. in diameter,
and nearly or quite as high. The flesh is very soft, and the parts are
more or less hollow. The basidia are like those of the genus, globose,
sunk in the substance of the plant, and terminate with four long,
slender, sterigmata which rise to the surface and bear the spores. The
spores are white, nearly ovoid, but inequilateral and somewhat reniform,
continuous, 7--9 x 5--6 mu.

Figure 207 is from a plant collected in a woods near Ithaca, in August,
1897.

GYROCEPHALUS Pers.

The genus _Gyrocephalus_ differs from the other _Tremellineae_ in having
the fruiting surface on the lower side of the fruit body, while the
upper side is sterile.

[Illustration: FIGURE 208.--Gyrocephalus rufus. Reddish or reddish
yellow (natural size). Copyright.]

=Gyrocephalus rufus= (Jacq.) Bref.--This species is sometimes very
abundant. It grows on the ground, generally from buried wood, or from
dead roots. It is erect, stout at the base, and the upper end flattened
and thinner. It is more or less spatulate, the upper side somewhat
concave, and the lower somewhat convex. In some plants the pileus is
more regular and there is then a tendency to the funnel form. It is
reddish, or reddish yellow in color, smooth, clammy, watery, and quite
gelatinous. When dry it is very hard. Figure 208 represents the form of
the plant well, from plants collected at Ithaca. The plant is quite
common in the damp glens and woods at Ithaca during the autumn.

CHAPTER XIII.

THELEPHORACEAE.

Many of the species of the Thelephoraceae to which the following two
species belong are too tough for food. A large number of these grow on
wood. They are known by their hard or membranaceous character and by the
fruiting surface (under surface when in the position in which they grew)
being smooth, or only slightly uneven, or cracked.

=Craterellus cantharellus= (Schw.) Fr., is an edible species. In general
appearance it resembles the _Cantharellus cibarius_. The color is the
same, and the general shape, except that the former is perhaps more
irregular in form. It may, however, be in most cases easily
distinguished from _C. cibarius_ by the absence of folds on the under or
fruiting s