Gastromycetes 



Lycoperdon. New Jersey, T. J. Collins / Chester county, Pa., sometimes clustered, 

 Mcllvaine. 

 Good. 



II. OLIVE-SPORED SERIES. 



A. PERIDIUM TOP-SHAPED, THE SUBGLEBA WELL DEVELOPED. 

 (/) Cortex of long spines, etc. 



L. gemma' tum Batsch. gemmed. Peridium turbinate, depressed 

 above, the base short and obconic or more elongated and tapering or 

 subcylindric, arising from a fibrous mycelium. Cortex consisting of 

 long, thick, erect spines or warts of irregular shape, with intervening 

 smaller ones, whitish or gray in color, sometimes with a tinge of red or 

 brown ; the larger spines first fall away, leaving pale spots on the sur- 

 face, and giving it a reticulate appearance. Subgleba variable in amount, 

 usually more than half the peridium ; mass of spores and capillitium 

 greenish-yellow, then pale-brown; threads simple or scarcely branched, 

 about as thick as the spores. Spores globose, even or very minutely 

 warted, 3.54.5^ in diameter. (Plate CLXVIIa. ) 



Peridium 1-2 in. in diameter and 1-3 in. in height. This species is 

 distinguished from all others by the peculiar large erect terete spines or 

 warts, the so-called gems which stud its upper surface. Morgan. 



Growing on the ground and sometimes on rotten trunks in woods, 

 often cespitose. Frost. New York, Peck. 



Found in every part of the world. 



New York, Peck, Rep. 22 ; Indiana, H ' . I. Miller ; West Virginia, 

 New Jersey, Pennsylvania. On the ground and on logs. Mcllvaine. 



Edible, but not pleasant. Peck. Edible, H. I. Miller. 



Professor Peck gives two varieties : 



Var. hir'tum. Turbinate, subsessile, hairy with soft, slender warts 

 which generally become blackish. 



Var. papilla'tum. Subrotund, sessile, papillose, furfuraceous-pul- 

 verulent. 



Very common and known in all countries. It is, to my thinking, our 

 prettiest puff-ball. Its beautifully studded surface, reminding of ex- 

 quisite settings, is in itself worth studying for the designs. It is usually 

 solitary or in small groups, but at times these groups contain scores of 



598 



