Plant scattered, but somewhat gregarious, delighting in moist shady places,
and a sandy soil. Root a small mass of fibres adhering tenaciously to the
soil. Stipes 1-3 inches high, attenuated upwards, smooth or slightly hairy,
even or somewhat lacunose, cylindrical, solid or nearly so, very white
within, rather fii’m. Pileus hemispherical, sometimes becoming plane,
half an inch to an inch and a half broad, thin for its size, o f a rather dense
substance, but fleshy and brittle, tlie colour of the hymenium dark or
light grey, or brownish, becoming pale in age ; that of tlie exterior very
pale or whitish, tinged with brown. The surface of the hymenium is
smooth, that of the exterior somewhat verrucose and villose; in some varieties
even hairy. Sporules elliptical, 2-celled, ,5-8, in long filiform tubes.
This is by no means a frequent plant, but is tolerably well
marked, and constant to its characters. D e C a n d o l l e , however,
bas erred in quoting Boletus calyciformis of B a t t a r r a ,
whose figures belong to P eziza acetabulum of L i n n æ u s . Mr
G r a y bas thrown it, along with some others, into a distinct
genus ; but the generic character to be derived from diflPerent
groups of Pezizce, is so vague, when exposed to the test of
practical knowledge, that more confusion than simplification
would arise from such a division. Compare, as an illustration,
Mr G r a y ’s two genera of Macroscyphus and Hymenoscy-
phus :—
Macroscyphus. Thallus cup-like, soft, cellular, rather fibrous; surface
scaly, or slightly bristly ; sporidia with 6 or 8 sporæ in each,,
in a single row.
Hymenoscyphus. Thallus cup-like, thin, fibrous, cellular, bald ,
sporidia club-shaped, with 8 sporæ in two rows.
Here the want of scales or slight bristles, and the spondes being
in 1 or 2 rows, constitute the whole generic difference ;
which is rendered null by tbe fact, that the number and arrangement
of the sporules is often irregular in the same species.
Similar objections may be mode to Mr G r a y ’s genera Scodel-
lina, Calycina, and Dasyscyphus, which may indeed be said
to have no character at all distinct from Peziza.
It ought to be observed, that the above-named author has
cited B o l t o n ’s figure of our plant under the name of P . macropus,
instead of Helvella hispida ; and also, that B o l t o n
himself has tbe name of Helvella hemisphoerica engraved on
tbe plate, but that of hispida in the text.
Fig. 1. Peziza macropus, in different states, nat. size. Fig. 2. Section o f a
plant. Fig. 3. Portion o f a section o f a pileus magnified. Figs. 4. & 5.
Thecoe and sporules.