covering by a long cord, which can be seen only through a strong lens.
CYATHUS VERNICOSUS = varnished.
The Varnished Cup.
This differs from the crucible in color, form and habitat. It is about ½ an inch high. It is bell-shaped, becoming broadly open like a trumpet, and of a slate or ash color. The mouth and lining shine as if varnished, and hence its name. The plants grow on the ground, on wood and on leaves.
LYCOPERDON CYATHIFORME = cup-shape.
The Cup-shaped Puff-ball.
This species of puff-ball is round with a contracted base. It is 4 to 10 inches across, a white or pinkish-brown color, afterward becoming a darker brown and covered with small patches. When the spores mature the upper part of the covering (peridium) becomes torn and only the lower part remains. It looks like a dark-colored cup with a ragged margin, and may be seen by the excursionist in the spring on the roadside. It has survived the winter frosts and storms. It is split and shabby
looking. In August it is a whitish puff-ball, in the spring only a torn, brown cup.
LYCOPERDON PYRIFORME = pear-shape.
The Pear-shaped Puff-ball.
This species is shaped like a pear. It is from 1 to 4 inches high and is covered 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 3½ 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