6 



NEW AND RARE BRITISH FUNGI. 



GEO. MASSEE and CHAS. CROSSLAKD. 



Of the followinj^ six species, the first five are new to the 

 British Isles ; the sixth has one previous record only, and does 

 not appear to have been hitherto met with in any other country 

 than Britain. As noted below, three of these were found on 

 Union Excursions — Pocklinj^ton, Cudworth, and the Maltby 

 foray ; two are from Hebden Bridge, and one from Masham. 



Advantagfe has been taken of the fresh specimens to make 

 fuller descriptions. The description of the new British puffball 

 is supplemented by the photograph on page 7. 



During the recent fungus foray at Maltby, a very fine and 

 representative series of specimens of a puffball, which appeared 

 to diflfer in certain characters from hitherto known British 

 species, was collected in Maltby and Stubbing"s Woods. 



On further investigation the species proved to be Lycoperdon 

 cruciatum, Rost., a fungus not previously recorded as having 

 occurred in this country. Superficially this fung"us somewhat 

 resembles a small form of L. gemmatiim, and has probably been 

 passed over as such on previous occasions. Its most pro- 

 nounced macroscopic, or field character, consists in the whitish 

 outer wall of the peridium ["peeling off in large flakes as in 

 species of Bovista, and exposing the brown, minutely granu- 

 lated inner peridium. The structure of the outer peridium in 

 L.' cruciatuvi somewhat resembles that of L. velatum (an exotic 

 species), but in the latter the spines of the cortex are very 

 persistent, and when they disappear, do so singly, as in most 

 puffballs. 



The following- is a full diagnosis of L. ouciatum, which is 

 well described and beautifully figured by Rostkovius in Sturm's 

 Deutschlands Flora, vol. 5, p. 19, pi. 8 (1864). 



Peridium subglobose to broadly piriform, narrowed below 

 into a short, stout, sterile stem-like base, 3-4 cm. high by 

 2-3 cm. broad ; cortex whitish, formed of groups of minute 

 more or less pjramidal spines, breaking away in large flakes 

 and exposing the inner yellowish-brown, minutely granulated 

 peridium ; dehiscence by a small, irregularly torn apical pore. 

 Gleba umber, spores globose, smooth, almost hyaline, 5-6 /t 

 diameter ; threads of capillitium mostly unbranched, slender, 

 4-5 // thick, ends tapering, \er\- slightly coloiu'ed yellow- 

 Naturalist, 



