peridium somewhat dotted or slightly
reticulated. Flesh, when young, firm and whitish. The plants of this
species are small, variable in form, sometimes turbinated, sometimes
nearly globose, or depressed globose, but usually the basal portion is
narrower than the upper portion. The stem varies in thickness and
length; sometimes it is quite elongated, in some instances absent.
Capillitium and spores yellowish-green, turning dark olive or brown.
Columella present. When the spores are fully ripe the peridium opens by
a small apical aperture for their dispersion. The plants are sometimes
densely caespitose, and crowd together on the ground or on decaying wood
in large patches after warm rains. They are found both in fields and
open woods during summer and autumn. They are edible when young, but not
specially well flavored. There are several varieties. Plants sometimes
oval or lens-shaped.

In Var. _hirtum_ the plant is turbinate, subsessile, and hairy, with
slender, spinous warts. The variety _papulatum_ is subrotund, sessile,
papillose and pulverulent, the warts being nearly uniform in size.
Plants from one to two inches in height.

FIGS. 4 and 5.--=Lycoperdon pyriforme= Schaeffer. "_Pear-Shaped
Puff-Ball_."

Plant dingy white or brownish yellow; pear-shaped, or obovate pyriforme,
sometimes approaching L. gemmatum in size and shape, but easily
distinguished from that species by the surface features of the peridium
and the internal hyphae. The persistent warts which cover the surface of
the peridium are so minute as to appear to the naked eye like scales. In
some instances the peridium is almost smooth, and sometimes cracks in
areas, inner peridium thin and tough. The hyphae are thicker than the
spores and branched, continuous with the slightly cellular base, and
forming a columella inside the peridium. Spores greenish-yellow, then
brownish-olive, smooth and globose.

The short stem-like base of the plant terminates in fiber-like rootlets,
creeping under the soil and branching, thus attaching large clusters of
the young plants together. They are often found in quantity on the mossy
trunks of fallen trees.

FIG. 6.--=Lycoperdon giganteum= Batsch. "_Giant Puff-Ball_."

The Giant Puff-Ball, so generally neglected, is one of the most valuable
of the edible mushrooms. It is readily distinguished from other
puff-balls and allied fungi by its large size. It is subglobose in form,
often flattened at the top a