North America)! Fungi. 147 



sin, '/'re/case; California, /A?/'/v/r.s\v. Peridium ^y4~'^/i inches 

 in diameter. I have never seen specimens with globose spores, 

 and probabl)' our plant is referable to B. ovalispora, Cke. & 

 Mass. I have described it under the name by which it has 

 alwaj's been known in this country. 



5. B. iMiNOR, Morg. n. sp. Peridium subglobose, deeply 

 sunk in the soil and connected with it h\ a filamentous 

 mycelium, which issues from every part of the surface. 

 Cortex thickish, rough and irregular from the adherent soil, 

 fragile, falling away at maturity, except sometimes a small 

 portion about the base ; inner peridium thin, smooth, flaccid, 

 reddish-brown, dehiscent by a regular apical mouth. Mass 

 of spores and capillitium olivaceous, then reddish-brown ; the 

 threads curled and flexuous, with an expanse of i. 0-1.5 mm., 

 two to four times branched, the main stem 10-15 niic. thick, 

 the ultimate branches very long and tapering to a fine point ; 

 spores globose or slightly oval, even, 3.5-4.5 mic. in diameter, 

 with long hyaline pedicels. vSee Plate V., Figs. 10, 11, 12. 



Growing in damp shaded situations. Ohio, Mor^^an ; 

 Nebraska, Webber. Peridium /2-^4 ^f ^^^ inch in diameter. 

 A species well marked by its peculiar habit. The curled and 

 flexuous threads are interesting microscopic objects. 



Genus XIII. — Mycenastrum, Desv. 



Mycelium funicular, rooting from the base. Peridium 

 subglobose, without a thickened base ; cortex a smooth con- 

 tinuous layer, at first closely adnate to the inner peridium, 

 after maturity gradually breaking up and falling away ; inner 

 peridium thick, tough, coriaceous, becoming hard, rigid and 

 corky, the upper part finally breaking up into irregular lobes 

 or fragments. Capillitium originating within the tissue of 

 the gleba : the threads free, short, thick, with a few short 

 branches, acutely pointed and with scattered prickles ; spores 

 large, globose, sessile, brown. 



Puff balls of considerable size, growing in the sandy soil of 

 dry regions. A very distinct genus, in no way related to 

 Scleroderma, and resembling it only in its thick, corky, inner 

 peridium. The threads of the capillitium originate \vithin 

 the tissue of the gleba, along with the spores, and are set free 

 by deliquescence, the same as in Bovista. 



