Murrill: Illustrations of Fungi 5 



brought them to me thinking they were truffles. In section, and 

 in the method of disseminating its spores, this species closely 

 resembles the preceding one. 



Scleroderma verrucosum (Bull.) Pers. 



Small-warted Scleroderma 



Plate 17. Figure 8. X § 



Peridium subglobose, 2.5-7 diameter, ochraceous, pur- 



plish or dingy-brown, thin and fragile above, covered with minute 

 warts, continued below into a more or less elongated stem-like 

 base, sometimes reaching 3 cm. or more in length, when it is 

 usually lacunose ; gleba white, then vinaceous to black, at length 

 umbrinous, lines of trama whitish; spores globose, warted, dark, 



8-13 /X. 



This species is neither so common nor so well known as the 

 following species, from which it differs in having much smaller 

 warts. It is also usually of smaller size in this region and often 

 more purplish or brownish in color. It occurs on sandy ground 

 and roadsides in woods, and is of wide distribution. A section 

 of the young sporophore shows a broad white border, with a 

 firm, wine-colored to black interior marked with whitish lines. 

 This mass later becomes umbrinous and powdery and escapes 

 through the rupture of the upper portion of the peridium. 



Scleroderma Geaster Fries 

 Stellate Scleroderma 



Plate 17. Figvire 9. X 2 



Peridium large, globose, sessile, often cespitose, thick, nearly 

 smooth, yellowish-brown or greenish-brown, splitting at maturity 

 in a stellate manner at the apex, reminding one of an earth-star; 

 gleba umbrinous with a purple tinge, trama whitish; spores 

 globose, coarsely warted, 12-16^1 in diameter. 



This large, dull-colored species is quite abundant in the eastern 

 United States on banks and roadsides and in short grass in thin 

 woods. It is usually half imbedded in the earth and this fact 

 together with its dull colors render it inconspicuous until ma- 

 turity. It often much resembles a potato that has been exposed 



