hence the name nigrescens which Persoon gave it is not so bad. The 

 spines are connivent and fall away, leaving scars in the same manner 

 as in Lycoperdon gemmatum, but these two species are not as close 

 as we thought when we wrote our article on the Lycoperdons of Europe. 

 Young plants are quite different, but it is not easy to distinguish the 

 old specimens after the cortex has fallen. Although we have already 

 given two plates of this species, we present another ( No. 123), to better 

 show the cortex characters. 



LYCOPERDON ATROPURPUREUM (Plates 42, 57 and 123). 

 The plants we noted growing at Barbizon, and which when ripe we 

 should have referred to Lycoperdon atropurpureum, have strongly 

 developed spines, always brown when young. When mature these spines 

 shrivel up and waste away, so that the mature plant (Plate 123, Fig. 5) 

 would hardly be recognized as the same plant. We suspect that if 

 the truth were known, more than one species has been confused (by 

 us and others) under this name. If we could watch these various 

 plants develop, quite good distinctions might be found in the color or 

 other cortex characters which can not be ascertained from the dried 

 specimens as they reach us. All have large, rough spores, and are 

 very much the same when ripe. We present another plate (No. 123) 

 in order to show the cortex characters of Lycoperdon atropurpureum at 

 different periods. 



A Scaly Form of Geaster Triplex. 



Among some Geasters recently received from the Botanical Garden, 

 Peradeniya, Ceylon, were some small specimens of Geaster triplex 



with a scaly exope- 

 ridium (Fig. 166). 

 We have seen many 

 specimens of Geas- 

 ter triplex, for it is 

 a frequent plant in 

 many countries, but 

 we never previously 

 saw specimens with 

 a scaly exoperidium. 

 If this form is con- 

 stant in Ceylon it is 

 entitled to a name 

 ( Geaster squamosus ) 

 as a form, and it is 

 fully as distinct as 

 Geaster vittatus based on longitudinal fissures in the exoperidium of 

 the same species. While the character of a scaly exoperidium is abso- 

 lutely new in the Geaster family, to call it a "new species" would appear 

 tjto me to be untrue. Any one who is familiar with Geaster triplex would 

 Consider it as a mere form. 



339 



Fig. 166. 



