140 THE GASTEROMYCETES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 



1.5-2.5 cm. when dry; growing in the soil and partly exposed when fully grown; sur- 

 rounded until maturity by a thickish cortex (outer peridium) the upper and thicker part 

 of which remains attached to the inner peridium by a layer of spongy fibrous material, 

 the lower part tearing irregularly from the upper and separating more or less completely 

 from the inner peridium and remaining in the ground as broken and inconspicuous 

 fragments. The upper part with the inner peridium attached is now free and is easily 

 knocked out of the cup-like lower part by rain, etc., turning over so that the exposed 

 part of the inner peridium is now above. A small torn hole now appears at the place of 

 attachment of the stalk, in the center of this upturned base, and the spores begin to 

 escape. The cortex is a sand case held together by the woven white mycelium. The 

 inner peridium is rather firm and rigid, pale brown then silvery gray to slate gray in 

 age, minutely granular or scurfy on the exposed (lower) part, densely scurfy above 

 under the cortex. This thick spongy tissue above and thin granular layer below are the 

 remains of a watery translucent layer, 0.6-1 mm. thick which lay between the more 

 fibrous layers in youth. The inner peridium is very indistinct in sections when fresh, 

 becoming conspicuous on maturing and drying. The whole plant shrinks to scarcely 

 more than half its original size upon drying. Glebal chambers extremely minute, 

 5-25/1 wide, but often longer; no definite tramal plates are formed, as in Lycoperdon and 

 Scleroderma, but the basidia arise from irregularly anastomosing strings of threads and 

 the chambers are very irregular. Gleba white when fresh, changing as the plant 

 matures through yellowish olive to brown, at times faintly purplish. There is no 

 sterile base. 



Spores (of No. 5967) brown, at times with a tint of purple, globose, 3.6-4.4/i thick, 

 warted, and with a short pedicel (mucro). Capillitium threads 3-5/i thick, irregular, 

 not rarely branched, extending inwards from the walls of the peridium; after maturity 

 breaking up into short pieces. Basidia (of No. 6092) short-pyriform, 6-7.4 x 9-14/1, 

 usually with 4 slender apical sterigmata of equal length. 



This little plant is easily recognized by its peculiar habit of dehiscence and reversal. 

 It is not at all rare in pastures, the fresh, nearly mature plants appearing in mid-summer, 

 the liberated plants obvious in fall and winter. The earthy color makes the plant in- 

 conspicuous and it has seldom been reported. 



The type of Bovista Candida Schw. in the Schweinitz Herbarium is this species, as 

 Lloyd says (Myc. Notes, p. 93), but it is so pasted on its sheet as to obscure its char- 

 acters, and the spores, while of the same size, are less rough than in our plants and in the 

 co-type of B. circiimscissa B. & C. The spores are 3.7-4.4/1, nearly smooth. The plant 

 may have been collected before fully mature. The capillitium threads are unmistak- 

 ably those of this genus, made up of irregular fragments, 3.3-4.6/1 thick, rather rarely 

 branched. We have some Chapel Hill specimens (as No. 6092) with spores less warted 

 and approaching those of the type of Bovista Candida. The co-type of Bovista cir- 

 ciimscissa in the Curtis Herbarium (Blake, No. 164) is like our No. 7115. The spores 

 are warted 3.9-4.6/1 thick. 



The form we have described above is the Chapel Hill plant which is typical as 

 described by Hollos for the European plant, though running smaller than Morgan's 

 drawings. We have a collection from Asheville (Beardslee) which are 2.5 cm. broad, 

 counting the open cup. They are a brighter brown than our plants, about snuff-brown, 

 but the spores and other characters are the same. 



Illustrations: Clements. Minnesota Mushrooms, fig. 88 (as Catastoma). 

 Hollos. 1. c, pi. 22, figs. 25-27; pi. 29, fig. 37. 

 Lloyd. Genera of Gastromycetes, fig. 33. 



