60 THIRTY-SECOND REPORT ON THE STATE MUSEUM, 
or less tinged with dark-red, or brown tinged with yellow or greenish-yellow. 
In a few species the final color is less decided, approaching a dark-umber or 
snuff-brown. Sometimes the outer stratum, lying next to and in contact with 
the inner surface of the peridium, is paler than the rest of the mass. With 
this change in the color of the interior mass there is also a change no less 
wonderful in its character. It is now no longer moist and fleshy, but dry and 
dusty. The whole interior is filled with a soft but elastic mass of intricate, 
slender, cottony filaments interspersed with countless multitudes of minute 
dust-like spores. This mass of threads is called the capillitiwm. In some 
species it is of nearly uniform density throughout, but in others those filaments 
that spring from the base do not so freely unite and intermingle with those 
that spring from the walls of the peridium. They, therefore, form a central 
mass more or less distinct from the rest, and are called the columella. The 
columella is usually of a somewhat conical shape, but sometimes it is nearly 
globose. It may be detected in the mature plant by carefully making two 
opposite slits in the peridium, extending them from the apex nearly or quite 
to the base, and then opening the two hemispheres thus formed, the uncut 
base acting as a hinge .on which the halves may turn. The columella, if 
present, will be seen projecting from the base in the center of the cleft. The 
slits are best made with a pair of small, sharp scissors, as care should be taken 
not to disturb the natural position of the filaments more than is necessary. 
In the mass the capillitium and spores appear tu be uniformly and similarly 
colored, but often if the filaments are cleared of the spores they are seen to be 
paler in color. Rarely they are darker. The color of the capillitium and 
spores might be used as a character for grouping our species in subsections. 
The spores in all our species are nearly or quite globose. They vary in size 
in the different species from .00016 to .00025 of an inch in diameter. The 
olive-tinted spores in nearly all the species are smooth and about .00016 of 
an inch in diameter, but the purple-tinted ones are always rough or echinulate 
and generally larger, varying from .0002 to .00025 of an inch broad. It is 
perhaps needless to s say that the size of the spores does not at all depend on 
the size of the plant that produces them. The spores of the Giant puff- 
ball, the largest one of the genus, are but .00016 of an inch in diameter, while 
those of the little Smooth puff-ball, which is scarcely more than an inch in 
diameter, are about .JU025 of an inch broad. ‘The color of the spores may be 
ascertained by ejecting a small quantity of them on white paper or by opening 
the peridium and exposing them to view. 
Puti-balls rarely make their appearance in the early part of the season. 
Old effete specimens of the preceding autumn may be found in early spring, 
flattened and closely pressed to the ground by the snows of winter. Fresh 
specimens-rarely appear before the middle of June. Their greatest abund- 
ance is in late summer and early autumn. During the months of August, 
September and October most of our species occur. One species I haye 
found in July and August only, another in July only. Some species are 
invariably found in cleared lands, others i woods or bushy places, while a 
few are denizens of both field and forest. Some grow on the ground only, 
others on old legs and decaying wood, and a few on both the ground and 
decaying wood. One southern species is said to inhabit the bark of living oak 
trees, Some species have distinct, whitish, root-like fibres at the base. These 
penetrate the earth, and sometimes creep through it for a considerable dis- 
tance. In the Pear-shaped puff-ball they are generally well developed, and 
sometimes several individuals are found to be attached together by these 
creeping subterranean fibres. 
In the determination of the species, it is desirable to have specimens in 
both the mature and the immature condition. The former will afford the 
