JOHNSTON. — ON CAULOGLOSSUM TRANSVERSARIUM. 65 



means of dissemination appears to exist except such as may be accom- 

 plished by the ultimate decay of the mature plant or its possible inges- 

 tion by animals. The history of the gleba in this respect is thus wholly 

 similar to that which characterizes the Hymenogastraceae in general, a 

 powdery condition occurring only when the glebal mass has dried after 

 ' decomposition. It may be mentioned that in the locality examined by 

 Dr. Thaxter it was noticed that this general decay was often hastened 

 by the attack of the parasitic Sepedoniiim chrysospermum. 



To sum up the development of the fi'uiting body: the upgrowth from 

 the mycelium is differentiated into a cortical and a medullary layer. 

 The cortical layer becomes the peridium, whose further growth is inde- 

 pendent of the medullary layer, from which it differs in the arrangement 

 of its hyphae, in that they form a loose irregular network instead of 

 running more or less parallel to form a firm subgelatinous mass. The 

 medullary layer becomes the stipe and the columella, with which the 

 hyphae of the peridium are continuous. The surface of the columella 

 becomes differentiated into folds which form the gleba. The surface of 

 these folds consists of columnar elements which constitute the basidia of 

 the mature specimen. 



History. 



This species was first described as Lycoperdon transversariuni by M. 

 Bosc (3) (1811), as follows: 



" Vesseloup Tkansversaire. v. sessile en forme de raassue irregu- 

 Here, traversee par un axe conique, de contexture fibreuse qui part des 

 racines et se termine au sommet. 



"On rencontre cette espcce dans les bois sabloneux de la basse Caro- 

 line, mais elle n'est nulle part commune. Sa forme la rapproche de la 

 Vesseloup pistillaire et son axe de la Vesseloup axate que j'ai ducrite et 

 figuree dans les memoirs de la societo d'histoire naturelle de Paris. Sa 

 masse est composce, comme dans les autres vesseloups, d'uu resoau tres 

 serre entre les mailles duquel sont nichees les semences, mais j 'ignore si 

 elle s'ouvre au sommet ou sur les cotes pour les repandre. Je crois que 

 ces caractcres suflisent pour en faire un genre uouveau dont feroit partie 

 ma vesseloup axate." 



This description, as well as the drawing which accompanies it, answers 

 very well for the plant under consideration, altliough the latter is merely 

 an outline of the specimen, indicating its club-shaped form. 



In 182'J Elias Fries (10) transferred the Lycoperdon transversarlum 

 of Bosc to the genus Cuuluf/lossum, Grcv., giving the generic characters 



VUL. XXXVIII. — 5 



