NIDULARIALES 



141 



Calvatia contains our largest puff-balls ; besides C. Bovista al- 

 ready noted, C. cyathiformis with purplish spores, and C. cranii- 

 formis and C. caelata with olivaceous spores, are rather widely 

 distributed sometimes growing in horse pastures in early autumn 

 in prodigious quantities ; all the forms are edible before the flesh 

 has changed from its fresh white color. 



Lycoperdon differs in having an apical mouth, and contains 

 mostly small species ranging from a half inch to two inches in di- 

 ameter ; some have the outer peridium beautifully sculptured into 

 spines and other projections often arranged in patterns ; this is the 

 largest genus, containing over thirty American species. Bovistella, 

 with one species, JE>. Ohiensis, differs in its free capillitium and is 

 very abundant in the Southern States ; its hemispheric sterile 

 bases are frequently long persistent. 



Catastoma is represented by three species, and Bovista by five ; 

 among these B. plumbea, an inch or so in diameter, is regarded 

 as a delicacy when young. Finally Mycenastrum has a single 

 species distributed from Wisconsin to New Mexico. 



LITERATURE. 



Saccardo. Sylloge Fungorum, 7: 48-133, 470-488; 9: 266- 

 278 ; ii : 157-167. 



Morgan. North American Fungi. Jour. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. 

 Hist. 12: 8-22. PI. 7, 2. 1889; 163-172. PI. 16. 1890; 13: 5- 

 21. PI. i, 2. 1891 ; 14 : 141-148. PL 5. 1892. 



A most valuable monograph including descriptions of our 

 species. 



Peck. United States Species of Lycoperdon. Trans. Albany 

 Inst. 9: 285-318. 1879. (Separate pp. 34.) 



Trelease. The Morels and Puff-balls of Madison. Trans. 

 Wis. Acad. Sci. 7 : 105-120. PI. 7-9. 1889. 



Massee. A Monograph of the Genus Calostoma Desv. Ann. 

 Bot. 2 : 25-45. PI. 3. 1888. 



Burnap. Notes on the Genus Calostoma. Bot. Gaz. 23 : 180- 

 192. PL ig. 1897. 



Webster. Notes on Calostoma. Rhodora, i : 30-33. 1899. 



Order u. NIDULARIALES. 



This order, with a single family Nidulariaceae, includes the 

 bird's nest fungi, a series of small curious fungi allied to the puff- 



