298 United States Species of Lycoperdon. 



suggested by Dr. Berkeley in his Notices of North American 

 Fungi. It is also the L. albopurpureum Frost in the list of 

 Fungi given in the Catalogue of Plants growing near Am- 

 herst College. It is the Bovista cyathformis 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. giganteum. 



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 dispersion 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 frequently persists till the following spring. Some- 

 times the persistent basal part of the peridium is expanded 

 so that the cup is lost in a nearly plane surface. The 

 color of the capillitium and spores readily separate it from 

 the other species of this section. 



Lycoperdon saccatum Fr, 



Long-stemmed Pufi-ball. 



Medium size, high, V-2' broad; peridium de- 



pressed-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 



