SCLERODERMATALES 313 



The fructifications of Tulostomataceae originate beneath the 

 surface of the soil but become exposed by the elongation of the 

 stalks. The family contains approximately 40 species and was 

 monographed by White (1901). Tylostoma has slender stalks 

 5 cm or more long and 2 to 4 mm in diameter. An apical pore 

 appears in the peridium; the spores are interspersed with capillitia 

 and puff out, as they do in Lycoperdon. Battarea has stout 

 stalks 10 to 20 cm tall. Its spores are freed by splitting of the 

 outer peridium, followed by circumferential splitting of the in- 

 ner peridium. Queletia also is stout-stalked, but its spores are 

 liberated by fragmentation of the inner peridium in irregular 



pieces. 



Calostoma, whose 10 species were treated monographically by 

 Massee (1888), has a very peculiar fibrous, spongy stalk sur- 

 mounted by a papery spore case. The spore case opens by a 

 puckered, lobed mouth. In the ''q^^ stage," the outer layer of 

 the basidiocarp is covered wdth a coating of transparent jelly, 

 which falls away as the stalk elongates. 



In Scleroderma geaster, having compact, heavy fructifications 

 that usually develop in clay soils, the coarse peridium may rup- 

 ture stellately. The fructifications of PisoUtlms tinctorhis may 

 be 10 to 18 cm in diameter and are startlingly hea\y. The ma- 

 turing spores are deep purple, becoming brown when powdery. 

 Their pigments have been employed as dyes for cloth. 



The most interesting members of the Sclerodermatales belong 

 to Sphaerobolus, placed by some taxonomists among the Nidu- 

 lariales, although Fischer (1933) regards this genus as one of the 

 Sclerodermatales. Its gleba is discharged as a unit by a mecha- 

 nism involving the several-layered peridium. The developmental 

 studies of Sphaerobolus stellatiis and S. ioiveiisis by Walker 

 (1927) may be interpreted as confirming the classification of 

 Fischer. 



The Sclerodermatales may be divided into 5 families, as follows: 



1. Fructifications sessile 



2. Peridium a single thick layer, that is, without a distinct exo- 



peridium Sclerodermataceae 



2. Peridium consisting of an outer layer, which splits stellately at 



maturity, and a persistent inner layer Astraeaceae 



2. Peridium multiple-layered, gleba discharged intact by eversion 



of inner layers Sphaerobolaceae 



