FREAK PUFF BALLS. 



When Leveille described his "Hippoperdon Pila" (Cfr. Myc. 

 Notes, p. 178) he was very positive he had a perfect plant. We 

 think we have demonstrated that he was entirely mistaken and that 

 what he had was the sterile base of Calvatia lilacina. If Leveille had 



had the specimen that is before us 

 now, which we have just received 

 from Miss Jessie Dunn, New Zea- 



J^fei^: ^H land, he could well have claimed 



that he had a "perfect plant," that 

 is, an entire plant, for the specimen 

 (Figs. 140 and 141) is certainly 

 perfect and complete. It consists 

 entirely of tissue such as one ordi- 

 narily finds in sterile bases, and 

 there are a very few globose, echinu- 

 late spores to be found in the tissue. 

 In my opinion it is only a 

 "freak." The real relation of the 

 "sterile base" to the "fertile portion" 



Fig, 140. Fig. 141. of a puff ball [s> j th j nk> not k nown> 



Professor Patouillard tells me that one finds in the young sterile bases 

 a. hymenial layer and basidia. Why they remain mostly sterile and 

 do not produce spores is a question for the cytologist to solve. What- 

 ever the cause may be it is curious that Miss Dunn should find an ex- 

 ample that is, at the same time, a perfect puff ball and a perfect sterile 

 base. 



While on the subject of "sterile bases," it is really amusing as we 

 look back at it the theories that some of the old mycologists had to 

 explain "sterile bases." Bosc, who figured one, 1 was very much 

 puzzled to explain its dehiscence. He states, 'I have never seen it 

 open naturally to spread its seeds. It is the insect which perforates it, 

 the feet of the quadrupeds which crush it, the winds which bruise it 

 against the trees, that supply the defect." If the explanation was 

 not true, it was at least ingenious. 



THE GASTROMYCETES OF MISS MAR- 

 SHALL'S BOOK. 



Miss Marshall wrote her "Mushroom Book" as a kind of commen- 

 tary on some photographs by J. A. and Miss H. C. Anderson. The 

 plates are excellent and much better than the text. The book, how- 

 ever, is a good introductory work on American mycology, and I think 

 stands next to Atkinson's, but both are primers. A good text book 



IHe called it Lvcoperdon cyathiformis, and some would on that account call Calvatia 

 lilacina, Calvatia cyathiformis. When we get the much talked about " rules," when one can put 

 a nickel in the slot and draw out a valid name, we hope it will be made definitely clear what 

 value these old "cul de jatte " have in nomenclature. 



305 



