Grastromycetes 



II . CYATHIFORMES. 



Caivatia. Peridium large, top-shaped, with a stout thick base; subgleba lim- 

 ited and concave above, persistent. 



C. cyathifor'mis Bosc. cup-shaped. (L. cyatki forme Bosc.) (Plate 

 CLXII, p. 584.) Peridium 3-6 in. in diameter, globose or depressed- 

 globose, smooth or minutely floccose or scaly, whitish cinereous brown 

 or pinkish brown, often cracking into areas in the upper part, commonly 

 with a short, thick, stem-like base; capillitium and spores purple-brown, 

 these and the upper part of the peridium falling away and disappearing 

 when old, leaving a cup-shaped base with a ragged margin. Spores 

 globose, rough, purple-brown, 5-6. 5/x. broad. Peck, 48th Rep. N. Y. 

 .State Bot. 



Common over United States. Indiana, H . I. Miller ; West Virginia, 

 New Jersey. On open grassy ground. July to October. Mcllvaine. 



Often a queer, ragged, cup-shaped, purplish mass is noticed protrud- 

 ing from the ground, looking as if the upper half had been cut off hori- 

 zontally. This is the mature C. cyathiformis, or rather, what is left of 

 it. The upper half has blown away and is spreading its spores else- 

 where. 



A first-class Lycoperdon, meaty and of excellent flavor. When it 

 occurs, it is usually in plenty. On the great parade ground at Mt. 

 Gretna, Pa., it annually appears in large quantities. Cows are fond'of 

 it, and it is this fungus which is currently believed among farmers to 

 affect milk. I have watched cows pawing it to pieces and eating por- 

 tions of it. 



C. fra'gilis Vitt. fragile. Peridium obovoid, plicate below, with a 

 short-pointed base and a cord-like root. Cortex a smooth continuous 

 layer, very thin and fragile, separable, white or grayish, becoming 

 brownish and tinged with violet and purple, commonly areolate above; 

 inner peridium thin, violet to purple, velvety, extremely fragile, after 

 maturity the upper part soon breaking up into fragments and falling 

 away. Subgleba occupying but a small portion of the peridium, cup- 

 shaped above, persistent; mass of spores and capillitium from violet to 

 pale purple; the threads very long, mostly thinner than the spores, 

 scarcely branched. Spores globose, minutely warted, 4-5.5/1 in diame- 

 ter, sessile. 



584 



