ases numerous.

This plant will be readily recognized from Figure 418, and its bay-red
or chestnut-red cap with its brain-like convolutions. The books speak of
its being found in pine regions, but I have found it frequently in the
woods near Bowling Green, Sidney, and Chillicothe. Many authors give
this plant a bad reputation, yet I have eaten it often and when it is
well prepared it is good. I should advise caution in its use. It is
found in damp sandy woods during May and June. The plant in Figure 418
was found near Chillicothe.

_Gyromitra brunnea. Underwood._

THE BROWN GYROMITRA. EDIBLE.

[Illustration: _Photo by C. G. Lloyd._

Figure 419.--Gyromitra brunnea.]

Brunnea is from _brunneus_, brown. A stout, fleshy plant, stipitate,
three to five inches high, bearing a broad, much contorted, brown
ascoma. Stem is 0.75 to 1.5 inch thick, more or less enlarged and spongy,
solid at the base, hollow below, rarely slightly fluted, clear white;
receptacle two to four inches across in the widest direction, the two
diameters usually more or less unequal, irregularly lobed and plicate;
in places faintly marked into areas by indistinct anastomosing ridges;
closely cohering with the stem in the various parts; color a rich
chocolate-brown or somewhat lighter if much covered with the leaves
among which it grows; whitish underneath; asci 8-spored. Spores oval.
This plant is found quite frequently about Bowling Green. The land is
very rich there and produced both G. esculenta and G. brunnea in greater
abundance than I have found elsewhere in the state. It is quite tender
and fragile. The specimen in Figure 419 was found near Cincinnati and
photographed by Mr. C. G. Lloyd.

_Helvella elastica. Bull._

THE PEZIZA-LIKE HELVELLA. EDIBLE.

[Illustration: _Photo by C. G. Lloyd._

Figure 420.--Helvella elastica.]

Elastica means elastic, referring to its stem. The pileus is free from
the stem, drooping, two to three lobed, center depressed, even, whitish,
brownish, or sooty, almost smooth underneath, about 2 cm. broad.

The stem is two to three and a half inches high, and three to five lines
thick at the inflated base; tapering upward, elastic, smooth, or often
more or less pitted; colored like the pileus, minutely velvety or
furfuraceous; at first solid, then hollow. Spores hyaline, continuous,
elliptical, ends obtuse, often 1-guttulate, 18-20x10-11; 1-serrate;
paraphyses septate, clavate. _Massee._

The plants in the