1 66 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



definitely limited and concave above, persistent; mass of spores 

 and capillitium dense, compact, persistent a long time and slowly- 

 dissipating after the fracture of the peridium ; the threads very 

 long, slender, much branched and interwoven; spores small, 

 globose, usually sessile or with only a minute pedicel. See 

 Plate XVI., B. 



Puftballs of the largest size, growing on the ground in fields and 

 woods. The species of this genus separate quite naturally into 

 three distinct sections, all agreeing, however, in the irregular frac- 

 ture of the upper part of the peridium and the dense persistent 

 nature of the capillitium. The inner peridium in the typical species 

 is a sort of felted structure of coarse hyphse often with broad expan- 

 sions; they are of larger diameter than the capillitium threads, but 

 their walls are thin and fragile The extremely long and slender 

 threads of the capillitium, proceeding from the inner surface of 

 the peridium, traverse the tissues of the gleba, branching continu- 

 ally in all directions and becoming thoroughly entangled and inter- 

 woven, until it is impossible to separate any single thread from the 

 others. 



This genus was established by Fries in the "Summa Veget. 

 Scand .," p. 442, to include the Bovista craniiformis of Schweinitz; 

 if allowed to stand it must necessarily include Lycoperdon cyathi- 

 forme, Bosc, which has precisely the same structure of the cortex 

 and inner peridium ; and this carries with it two or three closely 

 related species. A clearer view of the numerous smaller puffballs, 

 the Lycoperdons proper, can evidently be taken by limiting them 

 to a membranaceous peridium dehiscent by an apical mouth ; 

 hence our extension of the genus Calvatia to include the globose 

 Lycoperdon maximum, Schaeff, and the stipitate Lycoperdon saccaium, 

 Vahl. 



■ § 1. Sessiles. Peridium very large, without a distinct base; 

 subgleba nearly obsolete, the mass of spores and capillitium quite 

 filling the interior. 



1. C. maxima, Schaeff. Peridium very large, globose depressed- 

 globose or obovoid, with a thick cord-like root. Cortex a floccu- 

 lose or nearly smooth continuous layer, very thin and fragile, 

 white or grayish, changing to yellowish, drying up and becoming 

 brown, remaining closely adherent to the inner peridium or some- 

 times peeling off in patches: inner peridium thin and very fragile, 

 after maturity gradually breaking up into fragments and falling 



