64 Thirty-second Report on the State Museum. 



Plants growing near Amherst College. It is the Bovista cyathiformis of 

 the Twenty-second State Cabinet Report, and an immature condition of 

 it was reported and figured in the Twenty-third State Cabinet Report under 

 the name L. gigantewm. 



As an edible species, it is not inferior to the giant puff-ball. It is equal 

 to it in flavor and occurs more frequently and in greater numbers. The smaller 

 plants are about the size of a man's fist, the larger ones are as big as a man's 

 head. The short thick stem often penetrates the earth so that the plant 

 appears to be truly sessile. The color is generally brown more or less tinged 

 with pink or lilac, but sometimes it is nearly white. Usually the upper part 

 cracks into rather large distinct areas. Just at maturity there is a thin 

 membrane or epidermis which may be separated from the peridium, which is 

 then seen to have a beautiful but minutely velvety surface. It is at this time 

 quite thick but very fragile. The cup-like base, which remains after the dis- 

 persion of the capillitium and spores, is suggestive of the specific name. It is 

 more or less tinged with the purplish-brown hue of the capillitium and fre- 

 quently persists till the following spring. Sometimes the persistent basal 

 part of the peridium is expanded so that the cup is lost in a nearly plane sur- 

 face. The color of the capillitium and spores readily separate it from the 

 other species of this section. 



Lycoperdon saccatum Ft. Long-stemmed Puff-Ball. 



Medium size, 2'-4' high, 1-2' broad ; peridium depressed-globose or 

 somewhat lentiform, supported by a long stem-like base, furfuraceous with 

 minute persistent mealy or granular warts or spinules, often plicate beneath, 

 white or creamy white, at maturity becoming brown or olive-brown, subshin- 

 ing and very thin or membranous, breaking up into irregular fragments 

 which sometimes adhere to the capillitium for a considerable time, the stem- 

 like base cylindrical or narrowed downward, sometimes thick; capillitium rather 

 dense, subpersistent, and with the spores dingy-olive or dingy-brown, some- 

 times verging toward purplish-brown; spores rough, .00016-0002' in 

 diameter. Edible. 



Low mossy grounds and bushy swamps, especially under alders. Sandlake, 

 Center and Adironlajk Mountains. August — October. 



The Long-stemmed puff-ball is one of our finest species. Its symmetrical 

 shape, pure color, soft and delicate appearance, all conspire to render it 

 attractive. The peridium is sometime? nearly globose, but usually it is more 

 or less depressed and hemispherical or lens-shaped. It warts are soft and 

 delicate, and so minute, that to the naked eye the plant appears to be mealy 

 or almost pruinose. They are persistent, but in the mature plant they 

 shrivel or dry up so that they are scarcely noticeable. In the mature plant 

 the peridium shrinks to a thin delicate membrane ; in which respect it differs 

 from the peridium in the two preceding species. The under surface is some- 

 times marked by radiating alternate elevations and depressions, and in some 

 instances the stem is also rendered uneven by shallow, undulate depressions. 

 The stem sometimes persists long after the disappearance of the peridium 

 and its contents. 



Before maturity this species bears a strong resemblance to L. molle Pers., 

 the Soft puff-ball, but when mature the two are easily separated by the differ- 

 ent manner in which the peridium ruptures. 



