vered with persistent warts so small as to look like scales to the
naked eye. It is of a dingy white or brownish-yellow. Its shape
separates it from the puff-balls, especially from the warted puff-ball,
L. gemmatum, which is nearly round with a base like a stem, an ashy-gray
color, and the surface is also warty, but unequally so, and as the warts
fall off they leave the puff-ball dotted. The pear-shaped puff-ball has
little fibrous rootlets, and the plants grow in crowds on decaying
trees.

+GEASTER HYGROMETRICUS = moisture, measure.+
+The Wandering Earth Star.+

This earth star is from 2 to 3 1/2 inches wide. It is sessile, of a
brownish color, and changes its form accordingly as the weather is moist
or dry, hence the name. It is contracted and round in dry weather, and
star-like in damp atmosphere, with its lobes stretched out on the earth.
The covering consists of three layers, the two outermost split from the
top into several acute divisions, which spread out like the points of a
star. The innermost layer is round and attached by the base. There are
one or more openings at the top for the escape of the spores.

+PHALLUS IMPUDICUS = disgusting.+
+The Fetid Wood Witch.+

In the first stages the plant is white, soft and heavy, in shape and
size like a hen's egg. It is covered by three layers, the outer one
firm, the middle one gelatinous, the third and inner one consists of a
thin membrane. This phallus develops under the ground until its spores
are mature. At length the apex is ruptured by the growth of the spore
receptacle, and the stem expands and elongates, escaping through the
top, and elevates the cap into the air. The stem at the early stage is
composed of cells filled with a gluten. The stem afterward becomes open
and spongy, owing to the drying of the gelatinous matter. The spores are
immersed in a strong-smelling, olive-green gluten. They are on the
outside of the cap and embedded in its ridges. A part of the volva
remains as a sheath at the base of the stem. This plant develops so
rapidly as to attain in a few hours the height of seven inches, the stem
is of lace-like structure, pure white, and its appearance suggests the
silicious sponge so ornamental in collections, commonly known as Venus'
basket. The drooping cap is also lacey with a network, and the spores
drip mucus and then dry up, in the meantime spreading around a
carrion-like, fetid smell. The Phallus, therefore, differs greatly in
app