288 Zhiited States Species of Lycoperdon, 



The peridium incloses at first a soft 'fleshy mass of 

 white cellular matter. If a minute portion of this be ex- 

 amined microscopically a great number of jointed fila- 

 ments and enlarged cells or basidia are seen, the latter of 

 which bear slender spicules, usually four each, on the 

 tips of which the spores are borne. When the plant is 

 fully developed this central fieshy substance becomes 

 filled with moisture and quickly changes its color. So 

 abundant is the moisture that it may be pressed out like 

 water from a wet cloth or sponge. The inexperienced 

 collector is sometimes surprised at finding the moisture in 

 the specimens which he has laid up to dry increasing 

 instead of diminishing, and his surprise is soon changed to 

 disappointment and perhaps annoyance when he sees his 

 beautiful specimens water-soaked and discolored by this 

 superabundance of moisture. In most species the white 

 color of the fiesh at first changes to yellowish or greenish- 

 yellow, but this hue soon becomes darker until at last it 

 is generally either a purple-brown or a dingy-olive ; that 

 is, brown more or less tinged with dark red, or brown 

 tinged with yellow or greenish yellow. In a few species 

 the final color is less decided, approaching a dark umber 

 or snuff-brown. Sometimes the outer stratum, lying next 

 to and in contact with the inner surface of the peridium, 

 is paler than the rest of the mass. "With this change in 

 the color of the interior mass there is also a change no 

 less wonderful in its character. It is now no longer moist 

 and fleshy but dry and dusty. The whole interior is 

 filled with a soft but elastic mass of intricate slender 

 cottony filaments interspersed with countless multitudes 

 of minute dust-like spores. This mass of threads is 

 called the capillitium. In some species it is of nearly uni- 

 form density throughout, but in others those filaments 

 that spring from the base do not so freely unite and inter- 

 mingle with those that spring from the walls of the peri- 



