MYCOLOGICAL NOTES 
C. G. LLOYD 
Page 1041 
I ihave a specimen of Reticularia Lycoperdon from Rev. Grelet, Prance, 
and when I compare it with the American collections I have so determin¬ 
ed, particularly under the microscope, 
plant and there is no trouble in deciding 
Lister of Mac'bride if one disregards their color perms. 
Both species have the same general size and appearance and I doubt if 
a photograph could be decisive. As others may have the same trouble I 
have had, we will contrast the differences. 
is an entirely different 
lq , which is which from either 
Lycogala flavofuscum 
Color not "flavofuscum" but 
silvery grey. 
Gleba grey. 
Capillitium irregularly branched 
and tubular. 
Spores 5-6 mic. Uniformly 
rough 
Reticularia Lycoperdon 
Color brown with a silvery 
sheen. 
Gleba brown. 
Capillitium flattened, ~ *- 
lacerate. 
Spores 7-8 mic., surface 
partly rough, partly smooth. 
Ehrenberg, 1815, named this Diphterium flavofuscum and gave 
two figures of it. One of them (B ) is fairly characteristic as to 
color, the other (A) is more probably Reticularia Lycorperdon from its 
color and it is from the latter evidently that he got the specific 
name. To my mind it is a misnomer as now applied for there is nothing 
"yellow" about it, either "dark" or “light*' at least to any of the 
several collections of lycogala flavofuscum that we have. Lister's 
color terms "ochraoeous brown or purplish brown" do not apply at all 
to our American plant which is always silvery grey. Bulliard (1783) 
had given an evident though inaccurate figure of 'it (192 ) under the 
name Lycoperdon ardosiacum but the figure had been referred in the 
European traditions to Bovista.plumbea ( sic ) which it has no possibil¬ 
ity of being. Bovista plumbea never grows on a stump but Rostafinskiego 
did not scrape up the reference. Bor that reason Morgan who juggled 
the names of Rostafinskiego's chronology overlooked it. Prof. McGinty 
who does not depend on Rostafinskiego's synonyms has changed it to 
"Lycogala ardosiacum (Bull. ) McGinty" which any one who professes to 
be governed by the "Brussels rules" must either adopt or wink at the 
rules for 1783 is "prior" to 1815. Ehrenberg gave a fairly good 
illustration of the capillitium which Rost, found was the same as that 
of the common little Lycogala Epidendrum and put it in the same genus. 
Rostafinski 1 s figure of the capillitium we reproduce (Pig. 1913) but 
we really think Ehrenberg's and Lister's (Pig. 1912) figures are more 
accurate. I do not know what Rost, says but his figure of the cap¬ 
illitium of Lycogala looks like it is flat, and of Reticularia 
tubular, but just the reverse is the case it appears to me. The cap¬ 
illitium of Reticularia is evidently the remains of sporangium walls 
as stated by all, but the capillitium of Lycogala is not so easily 
understood. If one reads Lister closely the sporangia do not have 
walls. They are a. kind of phantom sporangia and the capillitium is 
formed by walls of air spaces between them. This is difficult for a 
layman to grasp, but I suppose that Lycogala forms its capillitium as 
some good housewives are said to make doughnuts. First they make the 
hole and then they form the doughnut around it. 
