ately.

I have tested fine specimens of the giant puff-ball gathered in the
public parks of Washington, D. C., finding it delicious eating when
fried in batter.

FIGS. 7 and 8.--=Lycoperdon cyathiforme= Bose. "_Cup-shaped
Puff-Ball_."

Synonyms--L. fragile Vitt. L. albopurpureum Frost.

Plant nearly globose, with a short, thick, stem-like base, color
varying, cinereous, brown, tinged with violet.

Rind or peridium smooth, or minutely floccose, scaly in the mature
plant, cracking into somewhat angular areas, the upper portion finally
falling away in fragments, leaving a wide cup-shaped base, with
irregular margin, which remains long after the dispersion of the spores
and capillitium. This basal portion is often tinged with the purplish
hue of the spores. Spores rough, purplish-brown. Capillitium same color
as the spores.

Lycoperdon _cyathiforme_ is a more common species than L. _giganteum_,
and is deemed quite equal to the latter in flavor. The plants are of
good size, being from 4 to 10 inches in diameter.

They are frequently found in open fields and grassy places after
electric storms. When sliced and fried in egg batter, they taste much
like the _giganteum_ or _giant puff-ball_.

A puff-ball which is not inferior to either of the two last-named
species, though not as large, and perhaps not as abundant as either, is
the Lycoperdon _saccatum_ of Fries, sometimes called the "Long-stemmed
puff-ball," because of its elongated stem.

The plants of this species are attractive in appearance, usually
hemispherical, or lentiform in shape, with cylindrical stem-like base.
The peridium is thin and delicate, breaking into fragments; creamy white
in the young stage, and clothed with delicate warts, so minute as to
give the surface a soft mealy appearance, the under surface somewhat
plicate. Capillitium sub-persistent and dense. Both spores and
capillitium brown.

LYCOPERDACEAE.

_Genus Bovista_ Dill. Peridium papery (or sometimes corky), persistent;
the outer rind, sometimes called the bark, quite distinct from the
inner, at length shelling off. Capillitium sub-compact, equal, adnate to
the peridium on all sides; spores pedicillate, brownish.

FIGS. 9 and 10.--=Bovista plumbea= Pers. _Lead-Colored Bovista_.

Plant small, spherical, having a double shell or peridium, the inner one
white and the outer one smooth and greyish lead-color or bluish-grey,
and shelling off at maturity. When young the