I.YCOPERDACEAE 97 



Illustrations: Fries, Th. (". E. Sveriges Gasteromyceter, fig. 21. 

 Lloyd. Myc. Works, pi. 89, figs. 1 and 2. 



North Dakota. Anselm. On mossy sod in sand hills. Brenckle and Stevens, colls. (N. Y. B. G. 



Herb, and U. X. C. Herb.). Spores 3.6-4.4/1, with a slender pedicel up to 8.2m long- Capil- 



litium of long, branched units, about 4.8^ thick in largest places, olivaceous under the 



microscope. 

 Michigan. Reported by Lloyd. 

 Swedish Lapland. Abisco. On grassy railroad embankment, summer, 1921. Coker, coll. (U. N. 



C. Herb.). 



BOVISTA Pers. 



Plants spherical, attached centrally at the base, the outer peridium thin, fragile, 

 flaking off at maturity and leaving exposed the smooth, thin, distended, metallic-looking 

 inner peridium which opens by an apical pore, becomes detached from the ground, and 

 is blown about like a light ball, puffing out the spores. Capillitium not connected 

 with the peridium, but composed of separate units which branch dichotomously or 

 irregularly and end in tapering points. There is no sterile base. Spores dark brown 

 or purplish brown, in one of our species with a well developed pedicel. 



The genus is remarkable in its tumbling habit (shared by Mycenastrum and to a 

 less extent by Disciseda*) and the inner peridium is especially adapted to this end by the 

 retention of its shape as an inflated ball and by its firm, parchment-like, resilient tex- 

 ture. These balls are rolled about by the wind and the spores shaken out by degrees 

 through the apical mouth or slit. They are very durable and in mountain pastures old 

 plants of the preceding year may still be found in good condition. 



Lloyd considers B. montana Morgan the same as B. pila. 



Literature 



Bonorden. Die Gattungen Bovista, Lycoperdon u. ihr Bau. Bot. Zeit. 15: 593, 609, 625. 1857. 



Cunningham. The Genera Bovista and Bovistella. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 50: 367, pi. 37. 1925. 



Lloyd. The Bovistae. Myc. Notes No. 12: 113. 1902. 



Massee. A Revision of the Genus Bovista. Journ. Bot. 26: 129. 1888. 



Morgan. Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist. 14: 144. 1891. 



Petri. Flora Italica Cryptogama (Gasterales), Fasc. 5: 60. 1909. 



Rolland. Observations sur le Mycenastrum corium Desv. et sur le Bovista plumbea Pers. Bull. Soc. 



Myc.Fr.22: 109. 1906. 

 Tulasne, L. R. and Ch. De La Fructification des Scleroderma compared a celle des Lycoperdon et des 



Bovista. Ann. Sci. Nat., 2nd. ser. 17: 5, pis. 1 and 2. 1842. 



Key to the Species 



Fruit bodies above ground, of moderate to large size 



Spores spherical with a short pedicel B. pila (p. 97) 



Spores oval with a long pedicel B. plumbea (p. 99) 



Fruit bodies subterranean until exposed by rains, etc., small; spores oval with a long, wavy pedicel 



B. minor (p. 99) 



Bovista pila B. & C. 



Plates 60 and 114 



Plants globose or subglobose and irregularly pinched and lobed downward, 6-9 

 cm. in diameter, attached abruptly below by a single, small cord which breaks at 



• Disciseda does very little tumbling, the flat shape with one side heavier not adapting it well to that habit. It is, how- 

 ever, detached from its place of growth at maturity and knocked about by rain. 



