SCLEROPERMATACEAE 171 



regular base of very variable length and thickness, at times sessile and attached as in 

 Scleroderma; solid and firm, at first olivaceous yellow but usually dull ochraceous when 

 found, then brownish to blackish, the surface nearly glabrous; peridium very thin and 

 at maturity becoming brittle and soon crackinginto flakes above until the whole contents 

 are exposed. Peridioles in section whitish or yellow, then watery vinaceous, then 

 through darker vinaceous to nearly black, subspherical, irregularly angular, usually 

 compressed, about 1-2 mm. thick and up to 4 mm. long, smaller toward the base; 

 texture that of a firm elastic and translucent jelly until the desiccation of maturity. 

 Peridioles separated by a nearly black jelly enclosing a densely woven mass of delicate 

 threads with clamp connections. 



Spore powder cinnamon brown; spores globose, spiny but with the spines covered 

 with a gelatinous material that makes them look blunt when first put into water, 

 7— 11.5m thick, counting the spines which are up to ly. long. 



This peculiar plant is common in fall in well drained gravelly and sandy soil, as 

 pastures, old fields, thin places in lawns, etc. The dry spore powder is scattered by the 

 breaking down of the peridioles after the peridium cracks off. This disorganization 

 proceeds by degrees and the lower peridioles are intact for some time while the upper 

 part is being dissipated. The old, woody, discolored base remains intact for months. 



The blackish jelly between the peridioles and the peridium also of this plant gets 

 its color from a bright olivaceous yellow pigment which quickly stains cloth or paper 

 and is hard to remove. It is said to be used for dye for cloth in France (Lloyd, Lyco- 

 perdaceae of Aus., p. 12). When put under the microscope this jelly itself is seen to 

 contain most of the pigment, the threads being pale. The vinaceous purple color of the 

 jelly in the peridioles is due to the maturing spores, the threads and jelly around them 

 being colorless. If a ripening peridiole be put into water the purplish pigment in the 

 spores will diffuse into the water and color it. The plant thus contains two distinct 

 pigments, a yellow and a purple one. The purple tint of the spores is lost at full 

 maturity, the dry spore powder being deep brown without purple. The very surface 

 of the peridioles is covered with a thin weft of yellow fibers that are not gelatinized and 

 contrast strongly with the jell}' on each side. When fresh the very thin weft of fibers 

 that make up the peridium is lined beneath by about one millimeter of the same black 

 jelly that surrounds the peridioles. This is mottled with yellow plates as if the outer 

 peridioles had been aborted. 



The spores of P. crassipes as illustrated by Tulasne show thick, rounded warts 

 rather than spines, but we do not take this to be evidence that the plants are different. 

 When first put into water many of the spores have thick, rounded warts but these 

 become sharper after standing awhile or on appb'cation of KOH. 



As in the case of Scleroderma and the Nidulariaceae, it is obvious that the spores 

 grow considerably after the basidia disappear by gelatinization. At the stage shown in 

 fig. 17 the basidia have lost all their contents and are almost invisible, yet the spores 

 are only about two-thirds grown. Figure 18 shows the mature spores at the same 

 magnification. 



As Persoon's Synopsis Fungorum is now generally accepted as the starting point 

 for the nomenclature of the Gasteromycetes, there is no reason why his specific name 

 (based on Micheli's plate) should not be applied to this plant. Though Lloyd suggests 

 this, we cannot find that the combination we use has ever been published before. For 

 other synonyms, see Hollos, p. 179. 



