MYCOLOGIA 
Vol. VI July, 1914 No. 4 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF FUNGI— XVIII 
William A. Murrill 
The accompanying plates were made from specimens collected 
in the vicinity of New York City or in adjoining states within easy 
reach. The species selected are of such a character as to be well 
represented without the use of color. Several of them are of im- 
portance to the mycophagist. 
Lycoperdon Bovista L. 
Lycoperdon giganteum Batsch 
Giant Puffball 
Plate 126. X 
Peridium very large, globose or depressed-globose, sessile or 
nearly so, 20-35 cm - or more in diameter; surface glabrous or 
slightly flocculose, white, whitish, or slightly yellowish, becoming 
dingy with age ; spores globose, greenish-yellow becoming dingy- 
olivaceous, 4 fj . ; capillitium greenish-yellow becoming dingy- 
olivaceous. 
The giant puffball, easily recognized by its large size and smooth 
white appearance, occurs infrequently in fields, pastures, or woods 
throughout most of the United States, as well as in parts of Eu- 
rope and Asia. The specimens here figured grew in Mrs. Boeder’s 
yard in Williamsbridge, New York City, and were photographed 
by her. The species has also been collected at least twice in the 
hemlock grove in the New York Botanical Garden. Authentic 
records have been made of specimens three feet in diameter, but 
they rarely become much larger than a man’s head. The flavor of 
[Mycologia for May, 1914 (6: 103-159), was issued May 30, 1914] 
161 
