ARTIFICIAL KEY TO THE FAMILIES 



Plants emerging at maturity from a soft volva or "egg;" the spores bornein a slimy, brown, bad-smelling 



liquid at the top of a stalk or net or several columns Phallaceae (p. 3) 



Not as above 



Plants with a distinct firm or gelatinous stalk which carries the spore-bearing sac, the latter in our 

 representatives having a distinct apical mouth through which the spores escape as a dry 

 powder. 



Stalk firm and fibrous; mouth not red Tylostomataceae (p. 149) 



Stalk gelatinous; mouth red Calostomataceae (p. 185) 



Plants without a distinct, terete or gelatinous stalk; if a stalk is present it is thick and expands 



gradually into the swollen spore-bearing part above. 



Plants small, shaped like cups or tumblers or subspherical, at maturity opening in most of the 



species over the entire top by the collapse of a veil (or rarely by the crumbling of the 



peridium) to expose a number of small flattened peridioles with hard coats which 



contain the spores, the whole looking like a little nest containing eggs. 



Nidulariaceae (p. 173) 

 Plants growing on wood; very small, spherical, exploding at maturity and throwing out to some 



distance a single minute peridiole Sphaerobolaceae (p. 146) 



Not as above 



Peridium without a distinct outer layer that falls away or splits; at maturity opening at 



the top by irregular lobes, or by an irregular tear, or by crumbling or rotting 



away. Elongated threads (capillitium) not present among the spores. 



Gleba not formed of hollow chambers, but of sterile plates cutting out irregular blocks 



which are stuffed with the fertile tissue; at maturity crumbling into a dusty 



powder Sclerodcrmataceae (p. 160) 



Gleba formed (at least when young) of hollow chambers which are lined with the 

 hymenium. 

 Peridium rotting away after maturity, the gleba (at least in species we are treat- 

 ing) turning into a slimy or gelatinous mass. 

 Tramal plates radiating from the base and not intimately onnected with 



the peridium Hysterangiaceae (p. 15) 



Tramal plates not radiating from the base and intimately connected with 



the peridium Hymenogaslraceae (p. 24) 



Peridium crumbling away after maturity, the glebal chambers remaining intact 



and falling apart as fine sand-like particles Arachniaceae (p. 144) 



Peridium without a distinct outer layer; at maturity opening ventrally by separating 

 around the stem and expanding more or less; capillitium not present. 



Secoliaceae (p. 53) 

 Peridium with a distinct outer coat (Calvatia rubro-flava is an exception) which falls away 

 in flakes or wears away by degrees at maturity, or dehisces equatorially, or (in 

 Ceaster) splits into star-like rays to expose the thin, pliable or (in Calvatia) 

 fragile and brittle inner peridium; gleba composed of small, hollow chambers 

 lined with the hymenium (obscure in Disciseda); spores mixed with a true 

 capillitium of long, slender, branched or unbranched threads (broken up into 

 short sections at maturity in Disciseda) and escaping as dust through a definite 

 (except in Calvatia) pore or slit. (In several small species of Lycoperdon the 

 outer peridium is very thin, obscure and persistent, and in Myriostoma there 

 are several pores) Lycoperdaceac (p. 58) 



