60 THE GASTEROMYCETES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 



Lloyd. Japanese Collections of Calvatia. Myc. Notes, p. 548. 1916. 

 Morgan. Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist. 12: 165. 1890. 

 For other literature, see p. 194. 



Key to the Species 



Peridium apparently single, the outer peridium being represented by only a delicate furfurescence, 

 very thin; subgleba homogeneous at maturity; all parts turning yellow when bruised before 



maturity; spores yellow-ochre in color C. rubro-flava (p. 60) 



Peridium single, or at least not separable into two distinct layers, thick; gleba bright olivaceous 



C. pachyderma* 

 Peridium double, outer layer thick, inner layer thin 



Gleba olivaceous yellow C. lepidophorum* 



Gleba purplish brown C. cretacea (p. 66) 



Peridium double and separable at maturity into a thin outer and a thicker inner layer; subgleba, if 

 present, chambered at all ages; not turning yellow when bruised; spore color purplish or brown 

 or olivaceous yellow 

 Plants very large, almost entirely filled with the gleba; sterile base nearly absent; mature gleba 



greenish yellow C. maxima (p. 62) 



Plants rather small; subgleba nearly absent; mature gleba dark purplish; spores nearly smooth 



C. fragilis (p. 64) 

 Plants large or moderately small; sterile subgleba large and persistent 



Spore powder dark purplish; plants large; spores strongly warted C. cyathiformis (p. 63) 



Spore powder brown; plants rather small; spores minutely warted C. data (p. 65) 



Spore powder dull or bright olivaceous yellow; spores smooth or nearly so 



Capillitium threads about as thick as the spores and with circular holes in them; spores 



very small C. craniformis (p. 67) 



Capillitium threads much thicker than the spores and with long linear pits; spores larger 



C. caelata (p. 68) 



Calvatia rubro-flava (Cragin) Lloyd 

 C. aurea Lloyd 



Plates 33, 34 and 112 



Plants subglobose, flattened on top, 2-10 cm. wide by 1.5-5 cm. high, strongly 

 plicate beneath, usually with a short, abruptly pointed stalk which is centrally attached 

 by one or more slender root-like strands; usually nearly white when fresh and immature 

 with a faint tint of pink or lavender but varying to pinkish leather color, all parts 

 turning at once to brilliant yellow (about chrome yellow) upon rubbing or cutting, 

 drying orange or yellow orange to orange red or bay, in age becoming a metallic brown. 

 Peridium about 125-160/x thick when fresh, becoming very thin and naoery on drying, 

 practically single layered, the outer layer being represented by only a delicate fur- 

 furescence, becoming smooth and shiny on exposure to weather, cracking up into irreg- 

 ular areas and falling away after drying. Gleba pure white when young and lined 

 with a hymenium as in Lycoperdon; the cavities very minute, up to about 0.2 mm. 



• Calvatia pachyderma (Peck) Morgan and C. lepidophorum (Ellis) Lloyd are two western species which are sometimes 

 confused. Both have thick peridia but may easily be distinguished by the following characters: In the former the pale peridium 

 is smooth or with thin adherent, white patches and there are no separable layers, although the entire peridium is apt to be scissile 

 like short-cake; spores (in plant from type locality, collected by Pringle and determined by Peck) oval to elliptic, very finely 

 warted under high power (x 2160), 3.5-4 x 4.2-6/x, with a mucro or short pedicel; capillitium threads fragmented, strongly oliva- 

 ceous yellow under microscope, irregular in thickness, rather frequently branched, pitted, up to llji thick in swollen places; 

 mature gleba bright olivaceous. In C. lepidophorum the outer peridium has an extremely thin, glazed surface marked with 

 inherent patches or rounded "bosses" but this is not separable. Beneath the thick outer peridium, unlike any other American 

 Calvatia, the gleba is covered by a thin, papery membrane and this is the character which most easily determines the species. 

 Spores spherical, distinctly warted, 4.2-c3/i. Capillitium threads slender, fairly even, up to 5/i thick, brown, occasionally branched, 

 and not so sinuous as in C. pachyderma. The plant Morgan described as C. pachyderma is C. lepidophorum, as noted by Lloyd, 

 and not Peck's species. Lloyd proposed the genus Hypoblema for Ellis's Lycoperdon lepidophorum (Myc. Notes, p. 140) but later 

 reduced it to a subgenus of Calvatia (Footnote 13 to Index to vol. 2). 



