52 



NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN. 



torn asunder, leaving the lower part in the ground and a cup- 

 shaped portion adherent above; inner peridium subcoriace- 

 ous, dehiscent by a basal aperture. Capillitium originating 

 from the inner surface of the peridium; the threads long, 

 branched, sub-hyaline, after maturity gradually breaking up 

 into short pieces, which appear among the spores as free, 

 short, simple or scarcely branched threads with blunt extremi- 

 ties; spores globose, warted, pale-brown, sessile or pedicellate. 



Puff-balls growing beneath the surface of the ground and 

 connected immediately with it by filamentous threads, which 

 issue from every part of the cortex; after maturity, when the 

 peridium breaks away, the lower part of: the outer coat is 

 held fast by the soil, while the upper portion, which has 

 attained the surface, remains covering the inner peridium like 

 a cap or inverted cup; consequently the apparent apex at 

 which the mouth is situated is the actual base of the plant as 

 it grows. The capillitium threads are similar to the densely 

 interwoven hyphae, which form the inner peridium and are 

 evidently branches of them radiating into the interior. — A. P. 

 Morgan, Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist.. Vol. xnr, p. 142. 



From Bovistaihis genus differs chiefly in its inverted habit. 

 Aside, however, from the circumstance that it grows mouth 

 downward it is peculiar in its mycelial attachment to the sur- 

 rounding soil. To form the outer peridium soil and hyphae 

 blend in about equal proportions. 



1. Catastoma subterraneum [Peck) Morgan. 



Fungi subgregarious; sporocarp subglobose, immersed in 

 soil, about one inch in diameter; outer peridium white or grey 

 from the adherent soil, fragile, circumscissile; inner peridium 

 smooth as in Bovista, pale, becoming brown and then weath- 

 ering to white again, dehiscent at length at the base by an 

 irregular aperture; spore-mass and capillitium brown, lax; 

 capillitial threads usually long and flexuous, sparingly branched; 

 spores globose, sessile, rough, 6-8 u. 



This little species was first sent from South Dakota by Mr. 

 C. W. Irish to Dr. Chas. H. Peck, and b\- him described as 



