The Morels and Puff- Balls of Madison. 115 



6. Lycoperden pyriforme Schaeff. — Our most vai-iable species, globu- 

 lar, pear-shaped, or clavate, sesaile or stipitate, usually five-eighths inch 

 to an inch in diameter, and half an inch to an inch and a half high (excep- 

 tionally as much as one and one-fourth by two inches). Peridium buff ,• 

 covered with umf orm persistent coarse dark brown granules (exceptionally 

 Avitli substellate short spines?). Spores pale olive, smooth, round, 3.5 tc 

 4.5 /.L stalkless. — PI. 2, f. 5. Very common in woods, on old stumps, 

 bm-ied sticks, etc., the plants commonly gregarious, and connected by 

 coarse white fibers. 



I have also examined specimens collected at Sheboygan (Brown), and 

 Eiver Falls (King), and others occur in the Lapham herbarium, Bundy also 

 mentions the species in his Ust of Wisconsin fungi. 



Exsiccatae: — Ravenel, Fungi Carolin., ii. no. 72; Fungi Amer., no. 469V 



7. Lycoperdon oblongisporum B. & C. — Round to broad, pyriform, 

 three-eighths in. to 1 in. , usually narrowed below, with a mycelial cord at 

 base. Peridium brown, at first furfuraceous, finally glassy, but with mi- 

 nute persistent granules. Spores greenish-brown, almost smooth, ellip- 

 soidal, stalkless, 4X6/'- — PI- 3) f- 3. — Rather abundant on the bare ground 

 in dense woods; August. 



This pretty species, previously known only from Cuba,' is indistinguish- 

 able from the next when immature, the spores affording the only really 

 characteristic feature. It has jjrobably been overlooked in the past chiefly 

 for this reason and because the mature plants, from their leaf -brown color, 

 are not at all conspicuous. L. HongTcongense B. & C. (N. Pacific Expl. Exped. 

 Fungi, — Proc. Amer. Acad. 1858, — 124, no. 119), as I find from an exami- 

 nation of original specimens in the Gray herbarium at Cambridge, is a little 

 more elongated than this species but with the same microscopic characters 

 otherwise. Its spores, however, differ in being long-pedicelled. In their 

 memoir on Lycoperdon and Scleroderma (Ann. Sci. Nat. 1842, Ser. 2, xvii, 

 13-14, PI. 2, B. f . 5-7) the Tnlasnes figure pedicellate oblong spores for some 

 plants of L. cepaeforme Bull., which is referred to as synonymous with 

 L. pusillum Fr. and L. ericetorum P. 



8. Lycoperdon, pusillum Fr. — Microscopic characters of the pre- 

 ceding, but usually paler and less glistening when mature. Spores round 

 or barely obovoid, nearly stalkless, 3.5 to 4.5 //, evanescently minutely 

 roughened or smooth. — PI. 2, f. 4. — Rather frequently on the ground, in 

 open fields; also sent from River Falls (King), and reported by Bundy {I. c.) 



Exsiccatae: Ravenel, Fungi Carol, ii, no. 73; Fungi Amer. no. 138. 



9. Lycoperdon molle P. — Depressed, globose, half an inch to an inch 

 and a quarter in diameter, sessile or on a stipe of equal length. Peridium 

 cream-color passing into buff, mealy-furfuraceous, glistening when old. 

 Spores ohve, round, stalkless, minutely echinulate, 3.5 to 5 ju- — PI- 2, f. 6. 



On the ground in open woods and pastures; also collected at River Falls 

 {King). 



^ Berkeley & Curtis, Fungi Cubenses (Joum. Linn., Dec, 1867), M5, no. 505. 



