LYCOFERDALES 13^ 



Capillitium floccose ; columella rigid like a stalk, the peridium open- 

 ing about its insertion. PoDAXON. 

 Capillitium floccose ; peridium splitting laterally ; columella floccose 



Cauloglossum. 



8. Peridium gradually breaking into fragments from above downwards. 



Calvatia. 

 Peridium opening by a single apical mouth. 9. 



9. Capillitium rising from the inner surface of the peridium, long, slender, 



simple or branched. Lycoperdon. 



Capillitium free, short, several times dichotomously branched. 



Bovistella. 



10. Peridium opening by a basal mouth, the lower part of the outer peridium 



remaining attached to the soil, the puff-ball becoming overturned and 

 free ; threads of capillitium short, simple or scarcely branched. 



Catastoma. 



Peridium opening by an apical mouth ; threads of capillitium short, 



several times dichotomously branched. BoviSTA. 



Peridium opening by the breaking of the upper portion into fragments ; 



threads of capillitium short with few branches and scattered prickles. 



Mycenastrum. 



Calostoiiia'*' is represented by three known American species. 

 The earlier stages are unknown, but the orange red peridia can 

 commonly be seen nestling in a translucent covering, reminding 

 one of the yolks of eggs lying in their whites as they are broken 

 into the frying pan. This gelatinous covering disappears later 

 and the root-like base formed of interlacing mycelial fibers sup- 

 ports the peridium whose lining varies from cinnabar red to a 

 brilliant scarlet, the color showing itself at the starlike mouth 

 whose beauty gives the name Calostoma to the genus. The 

 species occur from New England to Alabama. 



Polyplociitni has two species growing in sandy soil in California, 

 but neither is well known. Batarrea is a very peculiar genus, 

 one species from New Mexico having a stout stem as thick as a 

 man's thumb, a foot long, with a persistent scaly volva ; the plant 

 forms deep in the ground, its peridium appearing as a cushion- 

 like mass above the surface, its convex portion separating from 

 the flattened basal portion like a lid and exposing the spores and 

 capillitium ; the same or an allied species from California has been 



* Until recently better known under the later name of Mitremyces. 



