170 THE GASTEROMYCETES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 



Connecticut. Redding. Underwood, coll. (N. Y. B. G. Herb.). 



Massachusetts. Sprague, No. 737. (Curtis Herb., as Lycopcrdon gemmatum.) 



Wisconsin. Nelson's Woods near Madison. (Univ. Wis. Herb, and U. N. C. Herb.) Spores spiny- 



warted, 8-11*1. 

 Canada. Ontario. Dearness, coll. (U. N. C. Herb., several collections). Spores (of No. 3841b) 



spiny, 7.5-11/i thick. 



Scleroderma lycoperdoides var. reticulatum n. var. 



Size, habit and surface appearance about as in the species, from which it differs 

 in distinctly olive colored spore mass at maturity and in the strongly reticulated instead 

 of merely spiny spores and the more delicate, less massive roots. The color may run a 

 little darker and the spots somewhat less conspicuous than is usual in the species, but 

 these characters are too variable to be emphasized. The gleba color and spore differ- 

 ence are very obvious, the latter being easily seen under moderate power. When the 

 dark olivaceous spores are shaken out, the remaining matrix is bright olivaceous yellow. 



Spores (of No. 8076) spherical, spiny but also strongly reticulated, 10-13ju. 



North Carolina. In mixed woods by Pisgah Creek, Haywood Co., N. C, Aug. 7, 1926. Totten, coll. 



OJ.N.C. Herb., No. 8076). 

 New York. Under shrubs in New York Botanical Garden, July 27, 1919. Coker, coll. (U. N. C. 



Herb.). Spores strongly reticulated as in No. 8076. 



PISOLITHUS Alb. & Schw. 



Distinguished from Scleroderma by the distinct peridioles or irregular bodies that 

 with their separating walls make up the body of the gleba and contain the spores. A 

 number of species have been described, but all those of the northern temperate zone are 

 probably only forms of the one that occurs here. There is certainly nothing in the 

 descriptions to separate them. Differences in form, as presence or absence of a con- 

 spicuous, simple or complicated stalk, and surface color of peridium are all certainly 

 worthless. The plant is a common one in Chapel Hill and all forms occur. The fresh 

 young plants if unweathered are very obviously yellow, but this soon changes to shades 

 of brown or blackish on exposure. 



This has been widely treated as Polysaccum, a genus now known to be antedated 

 by Pisolithus. 



Literature 



Bambeke. Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 42: 178. 1906. 

 Massee. Revision of Polysaccum. Grevillea 16: 26, 76. 1887-88. 

 Petri. Flora Italica Cryptogama (Gasterales), Fasc. 5: 104. 1909. 



Tulasne, L. R. and Ch. Sur les genres Polysaccum et Ceaster. Ann. Sci. Nat., 2nd ser., 18: 129 

 pi. 5, figs. 1-7. 1842. 



Pisolithus tinctorius (Pers.) 

 P. arenarius A. & S. 

 Polysaccum pisocarpium Fr. 

 Polysaccum crassipes DC. 



Plates 96, 97 and 120 



Mycelium olivaceous yellow. Fruiting body irregularly globose or pear-shaped 

 and up to 18 cm. high and 10.5 cm. broad, narrowing below to a stout, stem-like, ir- 



