or
spinules. The inner peridium is white or cream-colored, becoming brown
or olivaceous, quite thin and fragile, the upper part at maturity
breaking up and falling away. The subgleba occupies the stem. The mass
of spores and capillitium is usually brown or greenish-brown. The
threads are very long, branched, branches slender. Spores round, even,
sometimes slightly warted, 4-5u, with a slight pedicel.

The plant grows on low mossy grounds among bushes, especially where it
is inclined to be swampy. The plant in Figure 462 was found in a
sphagnum swamp near Akron and was photographed by Prof. G. D. Smith. I
am inclined to think it the same as Calvatia saccata, Fr.

_Lycoperdon. Tourn._

Mycelium fibrous, rooting from the base. Peridium small, globose,
obovoid or turbinate, with a more or less thickened base; cortex a
subpersistent coat of soft spines, scales, warts or granules; inner
peridium thin, membranaceous, becoming papyraceous, dehiscent by a
regular apical mouth. _Morgan._

This genus includes puffballs with apical openings and is divided into
two series, a purple-spored and an olive-spored series. The microscope
shows that the gleba is composed of a great number of spores mixed with
simple or branched threads. There are two sets of threads; one set
arises from the peridial wall and the other from the subgleba or
columella.

PURPLE-SPORED SERIES.

_Lycoperdon pulcherrimum. B. & C._

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PUFFBALL. EDIBLE.

[Illustration: _Specimen from A. P. Morgan._

_Photo by C. G. Lloyd_

Figure 463.--Lycoperdon pulcherrimum.]

[Illustration: Figure 464.--Lycoperdon pulcherrimum.]

Pulcherrimum, most beautiful. The peridium is obovoid, with a short
base, the mycelium forming a cord like a root. The cortex is covered
with long white spines, converging at the apex, as will be seen in
Figure 463. The spines soon fall from the upper part of the peridium,
leaving the inner peridium with a smooth purplish-brown surface, often
slightly scarred by the base of the spine. The subgleba occupies at
least a third of the peridium. The spores and the capillitium are at
first olivaceous, then brownish-purple, the spores rough and minutely
warted. The plant is one to two inches in diameter. It is found in low,
rich ground, in fields and wood margins. Only young and fresh plants are
good.

The lower plant in Figure 463 shows where the spines have begun to fall,
also the strong mycelial cord referred to in the d