144 Cincifitiati Sociefy of Natural History. 



depressed-globose, subcoriaceous, thinnish, pallid or gray be- 

 coming brown, smooth and shining, dehiscent at the base by 

 a small regular mouth. Mass of spores and capillitium soft, 

 compact, then friable, olivaceous, changing to brown : the 

 pieces of the threads short, unequal in length, flexuous, 

 hyaline, 3-4 mic. in thickness ; spores globose, distinctly 

 warted, 8-g mic. in diameter, with a long, persistent hyaline 

 pedicel. 



Growing in sandy soil. South Carolina, Ravcnel. Inner 

 peridium ^-i Yi^ inches in diameter. This was sent to me for 

 Bovista nigrescens, but neither threads nor spores would per- 

 mit such a reference. There are quite likely more species of 

 these curious things in the southern and western sections of 

 the country. George Massee's article on Bovista, in the Jour- 

 nal of Botany, Vol. XXVI., p. 129, shows there is a consid- 

 erable number of species elsewhere. 



Genus XII.— Bovi.st.\, Dill. 



Mycelium fibrous or sometimes filamentous. Peridium 

 subglobose, without a thickened base ; cortex a thin fragile 

 continuous layer, shelling off or disappearing at maturity, 

 except sometimes a small portion about the base ; inner 

 peridium thin, membranaceous, becoming papyraceous, dehis- 

 cent by an apical mouth or opening irregularh-. Capillitium 

 originating within the tissue of the gleba ; the threads free, 

 short, several times dichotomously branched, the main stem 

 much thicker than the diameter of the spores, the branches 

 tapering; spores small, globose or oval, even, brown. 



PufFballs of small size, growing in fields and woods; they 

 mostly grow above ground, but one is hypogoeous. They 

 are speciall)- characterized by the peculiar threads of the 

 capillitium ; these originate within the tissue of the gleba 

 along with the spores, and after deliquescence are left wholly 

 free within the peridium. Each thread has a short, thick 

 primary stem, three or four times thicker than the diameter 

 of the spores, which sends out branches in l^oth directions, 

 these again branch several times with constantly diminishing 

 thickness, the ultimate branches tapering to a fine point. 

 The fine slender hyphae, which compose the wall of the inner 

 peridium, and branches of which form a fleecy lining \\\Mn\ its 

 inner surface, do not resemlile tlie capillitium-threads, nor are 

 they connected with them. 



