480 NIDULARIACE.E Scleroderma 



foie gras, sausage and poulard truffe in place of the French truffle, Tuber 

 macrosporum. Odour rank, strong, disagreeable, sulphureous-alliaceous. 

 Open places near trees. Aug.-Nov. Diam. 3! in. Often closely 

 resembles horse-droppings. Sometimes attacked by 1481, which in 

 turn is not infrequently attacked by Hypomyces hiteovirens. Pigs in 

 search for truffles and pig-nuts will not eat Scleroderma. Sometimes 

 5^ inches in diam. Var. cepa W. G. Sm., Scleroderma cepa Pers. Flattish, 

 onion-shaped. Var. Icevigatum Fuck, nomen. Even, smooth, often 

 confounded with var. cervinum (Bolt. Hist. Fung. t. 116). Var. aurantiacum 

 W. G. Sm., Lycoperdon aurantiacum Bull. Brassy-yellow. Var. spadiceum 

 W. G. Sm., Scleroderma spadiceum Pers. Date-brown. Var. cervinum 

 W. G. Sm., Scleroderma cervinum Pers. Usually less than an inch 

 in diam., hard and granular all over, resembling Elaphomyces granulatus, 

 of which species it is sometimes, without examination, placed in herbaria 

 as a var. Fir woods. Probably a distinct species. 



2087. S. verrueosum Pers. (from the warted peridium ; verrucosus, 

 full of warts) a b c. 



Subsessile to stipitate. Pe. subglobose, thin, fragile and 

 breaking up irregularly above, externally finely squarrose or 

 minutely warted, when stipitate continued into a more or less 

 elongate and sometimes lacunose stem, ochreous or dull 

 brownish. Gl. at first umber, then slate-colour to blackish. 

 Trama whitish. Often furnished with a mass of Myc. at 

 base. 



Sandy ground, commons, open places, near bushes. July-Nov. 3i X 5 in. 

 Sometimes attacked by 1481. 



2088. S. Bovista Fr. (from its resemblance to a Bovistd) a b c. 

 Subsessile, globose. Pe. thin, pliant, breaking up irregularly 



above, becoming nearly smooth, yellowish. Gl. yellowish- or 

 olive- to purplish-brown. Trama yellow. Usually furnished with 

 a mass of Myc. at base. 



Sandy ground near bushes. Sept. Diam. 2^ in. 



2089. S. Geaster Fr. (from a fancied resemblance to a Geaster) a b c. 

 Sessile, globose. Pe. thick, almost smooth, splitting and expand- 

 ing in an irregularly stellate manner, dull yellowish-brown. 

 Gl. umber to pale and then dark slate. Trama whitish. Some- 

 times with a mass of Myc. at base. 



Sandy places, stubble fields, woods, under oaks. Aug.-Oct. Diam. 3 in. 



FAM. X. NIDULARIACE.E 



Spores produced in the interior of one or more indehiscent 

 globose or compressed peridiola or sporangia which are at first 

 contained within a peridium. Species 2090 2098 



