236 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
is always slimy. The fungus looks as if it is growing on
the leaf litter, but, if carefully dug up, it is found to have
a rooting base or Pseudorhiza attached to a thick tree-root
or other buried wood several inches below the surface. The
Stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus, common in all woodlands,
including beech, presents a somewhat similar example. If
Fig. 1. Collybia radicata. Fruit-body connected to dead buried beech
wood by an underground Pseudorhiza. Spores are seen escaping from the
underside of the cap and drifting away in the wind.
a Stinkhorn is separated from the forest soil, it is seen to
have a long white rhizomorph, and if care is taken this can
be traced, often for several feet, from the fruit-body to a
connexion with buried wood.
So far most attention has been given to the fungi of
stumps, trunks and the larger limbs of beech, but if small
fallen twigs are examined, a number of small species can
be collected. Most of these are flask-fungi or Pyreno-
mycetes that break through the bark. One of the commonest