Hiftrory of the Britifb Stellated Lycoper dons. 43, 
perfectly regular, and the upper rays ftood upon the tips of the 
lower. In this cafe therefore, evidently, exceptio probat regulum. 
11. The Lycoperdon ftellatum Linn. and Hudf. with its fuppofed 
varieties, and the L. coliforme of Dickfon fafc. 1. remain a confider- 
able time in their egg * ftate; during which the top is nearly level 
with, or but little elevated above, the furface of the ground; and they 
have a root by which they are fixed, and by means of which they 
derive the nourifhment neceffary to their growth. When fully 
ripe, the volva burfts at the fummit into an indeterminate number 
of rays; the plant is turned infide out, what was before the upper 
and outer furface becoming the under and inner; it is raifed en- 
tirely out of the ground, and refts on the expanded rays of the 
volva; the root, no longer of any ufe, being by this expanfion 
broken off, and left in the ground. ‘Thus far my obfervations 
agree with thofe of Mr. Bryant; but it is by no means a fact, as 
that author afferts (p. 17), that they have iben a tendency to raife them- 
felves on the tips of their rays; or any prehenfile quality, by which they 
endeavour to lay bold of the grafs, mefs, or whatever ts in their wayt. 
"The plant being by the procefs juft defcribed abfolutely liberated 
from the ground, unlefs accidentally detained, it depends entirely 
on the ftate of the atmofphere whether it remains flat or is con- 
tracted. If the air be moift, it will probably remain for fome time 
* This term is ufed to exprefs the unopened volva, which fomewhat refembles an egg. 
A plant of coliforme remained in this ftate apparently unchanged in fize or figure near 
four months. ‘This fpecimen, the fineft and largeft hitherto difcovered of tbat curious | 
‘paume, d is in the mufeum of Sir J. Banks, P. R.S. 
+ Though Mr. B. is fpeaking here of his own ftellatum, which is a different plant from 
that of Hudfon, it makes no efiential difference as to thefe obfervations. Whether his plant 
remains flat or not, depends equally on the ftate of the atmofphere; but his plant changes 
its appearances repeatedly with the changes of the air from moiít to dry, and Hudfon's 
when once contracted preferves its form and is never again fully dilated. 
G2 - flat; 
