(See Plate 8, figures.) In Lycoperdon, Bovista, and many genera, the 
outer peridium is a thin, friable coat, often bearing spines or warts. 
As the plant matures this membrane usually 
peels off and disappears. (See Fig. 3.) 
When the outer peridium is of this nature 
it is called the cortex. In the genus Mi- 
tremyces the outer peridium is a thin mem¬ 
brane covered with a thick gelatinous mass. 
(See Plate 5, Fig. 29.) As the plant ripens 
this thin membrane breaks into little pieces 
which curl up and fall off carrying the thick 
gelatinous coat with them. All phalloids 
are in the young state enclosed in a thick, 
gelatinous membrane corresponding to a 
peridium, and called the volva. The outer 
peridium of Mitremyces is also usually 
called the volva. The phalloid is only enclosed in its volva during its 
young or “egg” state. (See Plate 1, Fig. 16.) When the plant grows 
the volva is ruptured at the apex, and remains as a cup at the base of 
the plant. (See Plate 1, Fig. 15.) 
THE STEM OR STARK. 
Many genera of Gastron^cetes. (Lycoperdon, Bovista, etc.,) are 
entirely destitute of any stalk or stem, but other genera (Tylostoma, 
Queletia, etc.,) are characterized by having the peridium borne on a 
distinct stalk. The base of the peridium of Lycoperdon, (see Plate 10, 
Fig. 45,) or Calvatia, is often contracted into stalk-like appearance, but 
must not be confused with the true stem of such genera as Tylostoma. 
Stalked gastromycetes are readily divided into two tribes : Tylos- 
tomeae in which the stalk is entirely distinct from the peridium 
and Podaxineae in which the stalk is continuous, forming an axis 
reaching the apex of the peridium. 
THE GLEBA. 
The inside of an immature puff-ball is filled with a white fleshy 
mass of soft cellular matter called the gleba. 
Our study of the Gastromycetes has been confined to the mature 
specimens in our collection, but it will not be amiss to give the de¬ 
velopments as recorded by De Bary, (whom we have for the most part 
copied in some sentences literally) Tulasne, Corda, Berkeley and others 
to whom we are indebted for our knowledge of the minute structure 
of the gleba. At first it is simply a cellular mass, but as the plant 
grows it gradually assumes the form of a tissue of minute chambers. 
The chambers of the gleba are in countless numbers, usually too small 
to be seen by the naked eye, and are narrow, irregularly curved, 
branched cavities, separated from one another by their curved plates 
3 
S 
Fir. 3. 
A Lycoperdon with the cortex peeling off. 
