Gastromycetes 



Lycoperdon. There are first and second-class puff-balls. Usually the small species 

 are slightly strong, and if a shade of yellow appears upon breaking any 

 puff-ball, it will be more or less bitter and will spoil a whole dish. The 

 larger species are milder. The flavor of puff-balls appears to be issued 

 to them as a ration. It is all there in a little fellow, and in a big one it 

 is simply spread through more substance. 



Lafayette B. Mendel in Am. Jour, of Physiology, March, 1898, gives 

 the nitrogenous compounds in L. bovista as: 



Nitrogen soluble in gastric juice 3.13 



Digestible protein nitrogen 3.13 



Indigestible protein nitrogen 2.70 



Protein nitrogen 5.79 



Extractive nitrogen 2.40 



Total nitrogen 8.19 



TABLE OF THE SPECIES OF LYCOPERDON. 



I. PURPLE-SPORED SERIES. 

 Mature spores purplish-brown. 



a. Cortex consisting of very long convergent spines. Page 591. 



b. Cortex composed of long slender convergent spines. Page 592. 



c. Cortex composed of minute spinules. Page 594. 



d. Cortex a furfuraceous persistent coat. Page 595. 



e. Cortex a smooth, continuous layer, becoming areolate. Page 597. 



II. OLIVE-SPORED SERIES. 

 Mature spores usually brownish-olivaceous. 



A. PERIDIUM OBOVOID OR TURBINATE, THE SUBGLEBA WELL DEVELOPED. 



/. Cortex of long spines mingled with shorter ones, the former at 

 length fall away, leaving a reticulate surface to the inner peridium. 

 Page 598. 



g. Cortex of stout spines which fall away and leave a tomentose or 

 furfuraceous surface to the inner peridium. Page 599. 



h. Cortex of long spines, curved and convergent at the apex, which 

 fall away and leave a smooth surface to the inner peridium. Page 600. 



i. Cortex of minute spinules and granules or furfuraceous scales. 

 Terrestrial. Page 602. 



590 



