6o ~ Mn. WoopwAnp's Effay towards an 
- Fungus pulverulentus coli inftar perforatus. R. fn. 27. rejecting 
the fyn. of Tournefort. | : 
- Diagn. Thevolva multifid, rays irregular, mouths and peduncles 
numerous. 
. Off. The head is in the large fpecimens confiderably depreffed ; 
in the fmall ones nearly fpherical; of a whitifh colour, and covered 
with a thin tunicle of a moft beautiful filvery grey, peculiar to this 
fpecies, but fimilar to that which forms the outer coat of the re~ 
colligens. The mouths are numerous, flightly elevated, and 
fringed with fine hairs. The peduncles, which do not appear till 
the thick fpongy coat dries or peels off, are numerous, woody, 
filiform or ftrap-fhaped; and appear to bear fome kind of propor- 
tion to the number of the mouths, though there are no correfpond- 
ing cells. In the fmall fpecimens the mouths and peduncles are 
few. It has been doubted whether thefe mouths might not be ac- 
cidental, and formed by infeéts after the expanfion of the plant. 
But this (not to mention their regularity, and that each is fur- 
rounded by its border of ciliæ) is clearly difproved, from the 
marks of the projections formed by the mouths being feen on the 
expanded rays, when frefhly opened, as reprefented in Dickfon, 7. 3. 
Sf: 4 ad litt. b. 1 have likewife found an abortive plant, in which 
the feed did not ripen; but which had numerous projecting 
papillæ on the head, where the mouths fhould have been formed. 
The volva of this Lycoperdon is funk deep into the ground, the 
fummit being on a level with, or very little elevated above, the fur- 
face. On taking one up, it was found to be nearly globular, but 
flightly depreffed ; of a dirty white, wrinkled and fcaly; with a 
fhort thick root terminated by a few fmall fibres. When cut open, 
this confifted of a foft coriaceous coat, within which was another 
thicker, and of a much tougher fubftance, filled with a white curd- 
like fubftance, of a very difagrecable fmell. This was fo young 
that 
t 
