64 THE GASTEROMYCETES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 



550. On campus, Oct. 10, 1912. 



556. On a lawn, May 18, 1912. Spores distinctly warted but still immature, 4-5.5/u thick. 

 672. Among broomsedge on a hillside, Sept. 18, 1908. 

 3229. In a pasture, Feb. 25, 1919. Plant practically gone except for the sterile base. Spores dis- 

 tinctly spiny, 4.4-6ji. 

 6044. In open, grassy place, Jan. 10, 1923. Plant with no sterile base. Spores with distinct warts, 

 4.8-6.2m thick. 



Asheville. Beardslee. 



Florida. Weber, coll. (U. N. C. Herb.). 



Alabama. Auburn. Earle, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 



Kentucky. Crittenden. Lloyd, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 



Virginia. Blacksburg. Murrill, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 



District of Columbia. Cook, coll. (U. S. Nat'l. Herb.). 



New Jersey. Newfield. Ellis, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 



New York. Peck, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 



Wisconsin. Vilas Woods. (U. N. C. Herb.) Spores apparently immature, some distinctly warted 



others less so, 4.4-4.8j», often up to 6.8p. 

 South Dakota. Huron. Miss Crouch, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). Spores distinctly warted, 4.5-6.2/i 



thick, sometimes pedicellate. Capillitium threads up to 5.5ju thick, sometimes irregular and 



up to 10m thick in swollen places, fragmented with ends often closed. 

 Canada. Melbourne, London, Vauxhall Bridge. Dearness, coll. (Dearness Herb.). Said by Dearness 



to be common in Ontario. 



Calvatia fragilis (Vitt.) Morgan 



Plates 37 and 112 



Fruit body obovate, up to 5.5 cm. thick (in our collections), the base abruptly 

 contracted to a blunt point; cortex thin, separable, brownish to straw color, the surface 

 minutely felted to smooth and usually areolated or pitted (in a form quite smooth), 

 the larger depressions usually with a central flat, purplish brown scale with the edges 

 more or less free; inner peridium deep purplish brown in section, about 0.7 mm. thick, 

 brittle and breaking away by degrees in irregular fragments from the top downward. 

 Gleba at maturity deep purplish brown, soft but not very powdery and not falling out 

 easily as in C. caelata. Subgleba often almost absent, at times more obvious when the 

 base is pointed, brown, the cavities very small and obscure. 



Spores (of No. 4783) dark brownish purple, spherical, smooth or minutely warted, 

 3.7-4.6yu, rarely 5.4ju thick. Capillitium of short segments, irregular, sinuous, 3.5-6/x 

 thick, pits very minute and not easily visible except under high power (just like the 

 capillitium of C. cyathiformis). 



This species is distinguished from C. cyathiformis by its small base with very little 

 subgleba, the smaller size of the plants, and the nearly smooth spores which are of 

 smaller average size. Calvatia caelata is of course separated by its gleba color and by the 

 much thicker and peculiarly pitted capilhtium. The surface appearance of the typical 

 form of the present species is almost exactly like Lloyd's figs. 2 and 4 and, in part, fig. 

 3 of plate 36 of C. caelata and form, but that is, of course, excluded by the purplish 

 spores of our plants. 



Calvatia pachyderma differs distinctly in the olive brown or buffy brown gleba, 

 homogeneous but scissile peridium of uniform color throughout and without a 

 sharply contrasting cortex, and in the average larger size of the capillitium. 



