50 SCLERODERMA. PISOLITHUS 



78. S. Geaster Fr. Boud. Icon. t. 186. Geaster, the genus Geaster. 

 Pe. 5-15 cm., greyish ochraceous, or yellow, globose, or turbinate, 



sessile, minutely tomentose, granular, exoperidium very thick, splitting 

 at the apex in a stellate manner into recurved subequal lobes. Gleba 

 purple umber, floccose. Spores purple umber, reticulate, obtusely 

 verrucose, globose, 12-15/t, 1-pluri-guttulate. Sandy soil. Aug. 

 Nov. Uncommon, (v.v.) 



**Spores echinulate. 



79. S. verrucosum (Vaill.) Pers. Grev. Scot. Crypt. Fl. t. 48. 



Verrucosum, warted. 



Pe. 2-5-8 cm. wide, 2-10 cm. high, ochraceous, or dingy In-own, sub- 

 globose, continued below into a more or less elongated stem-like base, 

 sometimes almost sessile, covered with minute, darker warts, rarely 

 almost smooth; peridium thin above, fragile. Gleba umber brown, 

 tramal plates whitish. Dehiscing by an irregular mouth. Spores dark 

 brown, bluntly echinulate, globose, 10-14/z. Sandy soil in woods and 

 on heaths. July Nov. Common, (v.v.) 



80. S. cepa (Vaill.) Pers. Hollos, Gasteromyc. Ung. t. 23, figs. 3-7. 



Cepa, onion. 



Pe. 1-5 cm., reddish brown, or bay, globose, or bulbous, compressed, 

 sessile, or with a very short stem, smooth, or rough with very small 

 warts on the upper part; peridium very thick when fresh, thinner and 

 somewhat leathery and wrinkled when dry. Gleba white, becoming 

 sooty black tinged with lilac, tramal plates whitish, then greyish tinged 

 darker or lilac. Dehiscing by an irregular mouth. Spores blackish, 

 acutely echinulate, globose, 9-10/j,. Woods. Aug. Oct. Uncommon. 

 (v.v.) 



Pisolithus A. & S. 

 (Polysaccum DC.) 



(TTtcro?, peas; \t0o5, stone.) 



Peridium irregularly globose, attenuated downwards into a stem- 

 like base, thin, membranaceous, dehiscing by the falling away of 

 the upper portion. Gleba forming round, or polygonal peridiola, 

 that finally become free and separate from each other. Basidia pear- 

 shaped, bearing 2-6, almost sessile spores. Spores coloured, globose, 

 verrucose. Capillitium rudimentary. Half buried in the ground. 



81. P. arenarius A. & S. (= Polysaccum pisocarpium (Nees) Fr.) Sow. 



Eng. Fung. t. 425, as Lycoperdon capsuliferum. 



Arenarius, pertaining to sand. 



Pe. 2-5-8 cm., ochraceous, then olivaceous brown, irregularly globose, 

 or pear-shaped, attenuated downwards into a stem-like base which is 



