558 MUSHROOMS, EDIBLE AND OTHERWISE 



thin, soft, yellowish, densely marked with small scales, dehiscence irregular, 

 fiocci yellow and spores dingy olive. 



The species may he known by the thin and comparatively smooth peridium 

 and yellow flocci. It is quite common in the United States, while the typical 

 plant, S. verrucosum, is confined to a few localities along the Atlantic coast. 



Scleroderma Cepa. Pers. 



Cepa meaning an onion ; having very much the appearance of an onion. 



The peridium is thick, smooth, reddish-yellow to reddish-brown, opening by 

 an irregular mouth. The plant is sessile and quite strongly rooted with fine root- 

 lets. Its habitat, with us, is along the banks of small brooks in the woods. It has 

 been classed heretofore as S. vulgare, smooth variety. I sent some to Prof. Peck, 

 who quite agrees that they should be separated from S. vulgare. Found from 

 August to November. 



Scleroderma geaster. Fr. 



Geaster, so called because it has a star-like opening somewhat similar to the 

 genus Geaster. 



Peridium subglobose, thick, with a very short stem, or almost sometimes 

 entirely sessile ; hard, rough, splitting into irregular stellate limbs ; frequently 

 well buried in the ground. Inner mass dark-brown or blackish, sometimes with 

 rather a purplish tinge. Some grow quite large with the peridium very thick. 

 My attention was first attracted by some of the peridium shells upon the ground on 

 Cemetery Hill. The plant is quite abundant there from September to December. 



Cat as torn a. Morgan. 



This is a small pufifball-like plant, growing just beneath the ground and at- 

 tached to its bed by very small threads which issue from every part of the cortex, 

 which is quite thick. Breaking away at maturity in a circumscissle manner, 

 the lower part is held fast to the ground, while the upper part remains attached 

 to the inner peridium as a kind of cup. The inner peridium, with the top part 

 of the outer peridium attached, becomes loose and tumbles over the ground, the 

 mouth being in the base of the plant as it grew. 



