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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



in which they open for the dispersion of the spores. In one 

 group the rind of the mature plant breaks into irregular frag- 

 ments in the upper part of the plant, and gradually falls away 

 exposing the mass of spores and permitting them to be 

 disseminated by the wind. In the other group the rind opens by 

 a small nearly circular but somewhat ragged apical aperture. 

 This group includes nearly all of the smaller species, and the rind 

 is generally thinner and more papery than in the others. Both 

 the edible species here described belong to the first group. Some 

 botanists have considered this group as worthy of generic dis- 

 tinction and have applied the name Calvatia to it, but for our 

 present purpose the original names of the species are deemed 

 preferable. 



No deleterious species of puff ball is known, but so far as my 

 experiments have gone the small species are inferior in flavor to 

 the large ones, and these only are at present recommended for 

 food. Possibly some of the untried small species may be as 

 agreeably flavored as the large ones, and perhaps improved 

 methods of cooking may give a more agreeable dish from those 

 already tried. We have two species of Bovista, a kind of puff 

 ball differing slightly from lycoperdons in the more perfectly 

 globular shape and in the more tough and smooth rind of the 

 mature plant. These are the Lead-colored bovista, Bovista 

 plumbea, and the Ball shape bovista, Bovista pita, both of which 

 are pronounced edible by Professor W. Trelease, but as I have 

 not tried them they are dismissed from further consideration at 

 present. 



The genus Scleroderma is allied to our common puff balls and 

 would naturally be classed with them in the popular mind. The 

 species differ from puff balls in their thicker rind and in having a 

 colored flesh even in the immature state. I suspect that their 

 disagreeable flavor has kept them out of the list of edible species, 

 but one correspondent affirms that he has eaten these fungi and 

 considers them good. 



The two species of puff ball now to be described may be con- 

 trasted as follows : 



Plant 8 to 15 inches in diameter, spore mass olivaceous, L. giganteum* 

 Plant 3 to 6 inches in diameter, spores mass purplish . . . L. cyathiforme. 



