A Monograph of the Genus Lijcoperdon. By 0. Massee. 705 



Kelated to L. echinatum and L. Roylei ; distinguished from the 

 former by the much weaker spines and rounded axils of the branching 

 threads, and from the latter by the absence of a true stem. 



On the ground, amongst leaves. Europe, United States. 



4. L. pidcherrimum, B. & C, Grev., ii. p. 51. — Broadly obovate, 

 bristling with crowded whitish, stout, elongated pyramidal spines with 

 minute warts between, base smooth and plicate. Capillitium dense, 

 threads usually thicker than diameter of spores, firm, branched, tapering, 

 sterile base cellular, well developed ; spores brownish purple, globose, 

 very minutely warted, usually pedicellate, 5 /a diam. 



About 1 in. in diam. On the ground. Pennsylvania. 



In the original description of this species, the spores are described as 

 being smooth and olive. The specimens received by Berkeley, and from 

 which the specific character was drawn up, are still in that gentleman's 

 herbarium in excellent preservation, and are one of the many examples met 

 with, in going over the specimens, of a change in colour, always verging 

 on purple, having taken place in the spores after drying. The very 

 minute warts may possibly have been overlooked in the first instance. 

 As the spines on the peridium become old and dry, they have a tendency 

 to split up in a fibrillose manner from the base. 



5. L. Frostii, Pk. U.S. Sp. Lycop., p. 17. — Peridium subglobose, 

 1-2 in. broad, generally narrowed into a short stem- like base, echinate or 

 shaggy, with long, stout, whitish spines, which are generally curved or stel- 

 lately united, and which at length fall off and leave the peridium brown and 

 smooth. Capillitium and spores purplish brown ; spores rough, • 00016- 

 "0002 in. (= alout 5 (x) in diam. 



Said to differ from L. eonstellatum in its longer paler spines, and in 

 having the denuded peridium smooth. 



In the absence of specimens it is impossible to say with certainty, 

 but I strongly suspect that this species is the same as L. jpuleherriinum 

 B. & G. See notes under last-mentioned species. 



Ground in meadows. United States. 



6. L. hirtum, Mart. Crypt. Erl., p. 386. — Broadly turbinate, con- 

 tracted into a rather thick root ; peridium thin, persistent, densely 

 covered with soft slender spines, which fall away, leaving a smooth, non- 

 reticulated surface, reddish umber, mouth small. Capillitium dense, 

 threads firm, thickness variable, tapering, branched, axils rounded, sterile 

 base well developed, slightly cellular ; spores brownish purple, globose, 

 minutely warted, 5 //.. — L umhrinum <y hirtum, Pers. Syn., 147-148 

 (no7i Bon.). Utraria hirta. Quel. Jur. et Vosg., 358. 



From 1^2 in. high. On the ground. Europe. 



7. L. atrojmrpureum, Vitt. Lycop., 186. — Peridium thin, flaccid, 

 subglobose or pyriform, stipitate or sessile, base more or less plicate, with 

 slender spinules, becoming glabrous above, dehiscing by a minute irre- 

 gular mouth, brownish above, becoming paler downwards, spinules darker. 

 Capillitium continuous with the well-developed cellular sterile bas3 ; 

 spores blackish purple, spherical, warted, sometimes pedicellate, 6-7 /j, 

 diam. — Vitt., t. 2, f. 6. L. escidentum, &c., Mich. Gen., t. 97, f. 4. 

 L. quercinum, Pers. Syn., pp. 147-8. L. atropurpureum, Sci. Gossip, 

 Dec. 1866. Cke. Hdbk., 1085. 



