1887] Botany. 665 
diamonds of the Brazilian fields. In the lower greensands at 
Flitwick and Sandy, in Bedfordshire, England, Mr. A. G. Camero* 
has found ironstone nodules filled with water, which they lose by 
evaporation when left exposed to the action of dry air. 
BOTANY.? 
The Growth of Tulostoma mammosum.—This odd puff-ball, 
which is found upon a stalk varying from one to five inches in 
length, occurs in abundance in the vicinity of Lincoln. I have 
been much interested in watching its development,—a thing by 
no means as easy as for many other puff-balls. One usually 
finds it in the Spring, in ground which had been cultivated the 
previous year. It often grows in clusters or groups of from half 
a dozen to a dozen or more, and, upon the bare ground, in the - 
early part of the season, just after the disappearance of the snow, 
they are easily found. In the summer and autumn they are much 
more difficult to find. Last summer I was fortunate enough to 
discover a few clusters just as they were developing, and noted 
some facts which appear to be new. The ball forms under 
Spore-bearing part occupying most of the interior, and (2) a 
sterile base composed of tissue which does not produce spores. 
Now, in Lycoperdon, if one makes a vertical section of a young 
ball which has nearly ripened its spores, the two parts may be 
very easily distinguished. In some species the sterile base is 
quite small, occurring merely as a greater or less thickening of 
the boundary tissues at the base of the ball, while in others it is 
well developed, notably so in Lycoperdon calatum. 
In Tulostoma a portion of the tissue of this sterile base re- 
mains living until after the ripening of the spores in the ball. 
At this time the tissue begins a rapid growth, and, as a conse- 
quence, a cylindrical stalk is quickly produced. This forces the 
ball through the overlying earth, and sometimes carries it up 
Several inches. This sudden formation of the stalk reminds one 
of the similar growth of the stalk in the Phalloidez, to which, 
indeed, as is well known to mycologists, Tulostoma is distantly 
relate 
The stalk of Tulostoma (of this species, at least) never de- 
velops while the ball is immature. One never finds young bal 
upon a stalk. In fact, I have, as yet, not succeeded in finding 
any balls in which the spores were not well developed. This, of 
course, is due to their subterranean habit. I doubt not, however, 
that the details of their early development are essentially like 
1 Geol. Magazine, August, 1886, p. 381. 
2 Edited by Prof. Cones E. Raka Lincoln, Nebraska, 
