478 



COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF FUNGI 



the four lobes, so that the pseudoparenchymatous layer comes to lie 

 on the convex side. By this process, the gleba which is surrounded by 

 the inner peridium is raised above the ground. It opens, as in Lycoperdon, 

 and allows its spores to scatter as dust. 



The meaning of the whole apparatus is obscure. In hypogaeous 

 forms, as in G. coronatus, one might consider it a means of better dissemina- 

 tion of spores, but in the epigaeous species this interpretation fails. 

 Apparently none of the stipitate species have been studied intensively. 



The peridium is still more developed in Colostoma WalUsii (Mitre- 

 myces WalUsii), perhaps not distinct from the common C. cinnabarinum 



Fig. 304. — Colostoma WalUsii. A. Section of young fructification. B. Section of mature 

 fructification. Explanation of letters in text. (After Fischer, 1884.) 



(Mitremyces lutescens) of North America (Fig. 304). Outermost lies 

 a thick, white, gelatinous tissue aP; next within follows a tough, cartilagi- 

 nous, brightly colored, hollow spherical layer K, at whose top there is 

 early formed a stellate, red-edged opening Z. In the interior lies the 

 endoperidium S, which at maturity hangs from the top as a thin-walled 

 sac. From the base of the layer L, as the fructification matures, there 

 grows a stipe or rooting foot F, which chiefly consists of numerous, irregu- 

 larly arched, cartilaginous threads which rupture the outer peridium aP; 

 this stipe gradually elongates and raises the fructifications. At the 

 approach of maturity, the layer K expands considerably, the layer aP is 

 thereby torn, disappears and the endoperidium £ hangs as a small sac 

 from the mouth into the interior of the fructification and discharges 



