er. 



Order Gasteromycetes.^ Tribe TrichogastresP- 



Plate LXX. 



LYCOPERDON PYRIFORME, sc^. 



Pear shaped Puff-ball. 



Gen. Char. Peridium membrauaceous, with an adnate subpersistent bark, within furnished at the base with a 

 spongy sterile stratum. Capillitium unequal. 



Sjjec. Char. Lycopekdon pykiforme. Peridium membranaceous, persistent, subpyriform, opening by the 

 umbonate apex, covered with the innate bark, and veiy slender fugacious scales, columella conic, spores greenish- 

 yeUow. 

 Lycoperdon pyriforme, Schceffer, Fries, Berkeley, BuUiard, Greville. 



Proteus, JTUhering. 



ovoideum, BtiUiard. 



Hah. On rotten stumps in sandy plains and ou peaty commons often tufted. 



Among the many Protean forms of Lycoperdon gemmatum will be found examples extremely resembling 

 this Lycoperdon pyriforme ; the differences are almost inappreciable, one only is, ou comparison of matured 

 specimens, constant, it is this : in all the varieties of L. gemmahim the contents of the peridium, receptacle, 

 or puff-ball are of a much deeper shade than in L. pyriforme which has them, greenish pale yeUow instead of 

 the yellowish olive-green of its rival. An elongated barren stratum, forming a stem to the receptacle, is in 

 common to both species, so is the conic central column, running from the stem towards the apex of the 

 puff, giving it an umbonate shape ; the external mealy scales are no distinction, but the umbo is more 

 invariably and decidedly prominent, and of a deeper brown in L.p)yrforme; tliis latter fungus is also of 

 much less substantial consistence than the commoner puff-balls, wliich when pressed are elastic, leathery, and 

 firm before they bm'st natm-aUy, while L. pyriforme yields to the finger as a dehcate inflated membrane, so 

 delicate and fragile that the slightest pressure indents the head, which decays and bursts at its most rotund 

 portion, before the mouth opens. Truth to tell, in the range of our personal experience we never saw it 

 open-mouthed at all, but dare not suppose that error exists on the part of higher authorities. We have only 

 found it on hght peaty sand after heavy rains ; in a drier habitat the plant probably has time to expand 

 " selon les regies," instead of irregularly bursting from excess of moisture. 



Whether Lycoperdon pyriforme ever affects the " ring " style of growth we cannot say, our specimens 



' Prom yamyp, the «to«ac/i!, and /ivicjjr, a/««yi«; hymenium included within the receptacle. 

 2 Prom 6p\i, a hair, and yasnjp, the stomach ; receptacles filled with floccose hairs among which the spores are 

 placed. 



