THE SAPROPHYTIC FUNGI OF EASTERN IOWA. ,-j 



whitish-brown to brownish-purple, upper part often cracking 

 into areas: inner peridium thin, pale to dark purple, fragile, 

 velvety, at maturity breaking up into fragments and falling 

 away; base occupying nearly half of the peridium. cup-shaped 

 above, persisting a long time: capillitium and spores brownish- 

 purple: threads very long, thinner than the spores, scarcely 

 branched: spores globose, rough, spiny, 4.5-5 „ in diameter. 

 Growing on the ground in meadows and pastures, common 

 and widely distributed. The persistent sub-gleba or base is 

 a curious structure, often enduring through the winter and 

 often collected as a perfect specimen. It is a cushion-like 

 object, stands sometimes eight inches high, surrounded bv a 

 projecting frill, the remains of the vanished peridium: the 

 upper surface smooth, having been always structurally distinct 

 from the gleba proper. Small forms of the present species 

 seem to represent the Lyc&perdon fragile of Vittadini. The 

 fresh mature spore-mass in all is purple, richly beautiful. 



4. Calvatia CjEL.ata [Bull. \ Morgan. 



Sporocarp large, obovoid. obconic or turbinate, depressed 

 above, about 5 inches in diameter, the base stem-like, stout, 

 thick and with a cord-like root: outer peridium thick, iloccose 

 breaking irregularly into large areas covered with large wart- 

 like scales, dull brown in color; inner peridium thinner, fragile, 

 at length irregularly ruptured, chiefly along the lines suggested 

 by the breaking of the outer peridium tinallv showing a large, 

 irregular, lacerate aperture; both peridia at length fall away 

 above leaving a cup-shaped base with a lacerate margin, per- 

 sistent: capillitium and spores dense, greenish-vellow, changing 

 to amber: threads very long, much branched, brittle: spores 

 globose, smooth, yellowish-brown, sometimes with a minute 

 pedicel. 4-5 » in diameter. 



Growing on the ground chiefly in open woods. Easily dis- 

 tinguished from other similar forms bv its peculiar dehiscence. 

 Not common. 



5. Calvatia craniiformis {Schzv.} Fries. 



Sporocarps large. 3-7 inches in diameter, gregarious, obconic 

 IV— 1 D 2 



