North .hiuriiait /■'i(it<'i. 



NORTH AMERICAN FUNGI. 

 Bv A. P. Morgan. 



r\)urth Taper. 



{ConliiiKcd from Vol. A'//., />. //.?.) 



(Read January 6, I'Sgi.) 



THE GASTROMYCETES. 

 Genu.s IX. — Lvcoperdon, Tourn. 



Mycelium fibrou.s, rooting from the base. Peridium small, 

 globose, obovoid or turbinate, with a more or less thickened 

 base ; cortex a subpersistent coat of soft spines, scales, warts, 

 or granules; inner peridium thin, membranaceous becoming 

 papyraceous, dehiscent by a regular apical mouth. Subgleba 

 cellulose, continuous above with the capillitium, rarely 

 definitely limited ; capillitium originating from the inner sur- 

 face of the peridium and from the subgleba ; the threads long, 

 slender, simple or branched, the thickness of the main stem 

 commonly a))out equal to the diameter of the spores, the 

 branches tapering; spores small, globose rarely oval or 

 elliptic, even or warted, mostl>' sessile or with only a minute 

 pedicel, but usually accomi)anied by the deciduous sterigmata. 

 Plate I, Fig. i. 



Puffballs of small size, growing on the ground in fields and 

 woods; only two or three species grow on old trunks of trees 

 and one grows on mo.sses. The peridium is usualh' furnished 

 with a distinct cellulose base underneath the gleba ; in a few 

 species the subgleba is nearly or quite obsolete. The threads 

 of the capillitium usually appear in two distinct sets, first 

 those which grow inward from the wall of the peridium, 

 secondly those that arise from the subgleba ; the latter are 

 often much elongated toward the center and present a thick 

 tuft rising toward the apex of the peridium, which has been 

 termed the columella. The capillitium threads are mostly 

 colored and are thicker than the fine hyaline densely inter- 



