The plants figured in [Plates G] and [H] belong to the Lycoperdaceæ and Phalloideæ.
Lycoperdaceæ.
Massee, who has given the Puff-Ball group very close study, says that in the gleba of the Lycoperdaceæ, "at a very early period two sets of hyphæ are present. One, thin-walled, colorless, septate and rich in protoplasm, gives origin to the trama, and elements of the hymenium, and usually disappears entirely after the formation of the spores; the second type consists of long thick-walled aseptate or sparsely septate, often colored hyphæ, which are persistent and form the capillitium. The latter are branches of the hyphæ forming the hymenium."
Genera Lycoperdon and Bovista.
To the genera Lycoperdon and Bovista belong most of the "Puff-balls" and all of the species figured in [Plate G]. In the plants of these two genera the peridium is more or less distinctly double, and the hyphæ, or delicate threads which are seen mixed with the dusty mass of spores in the mature plant, forming what is called the capillitium, are an important element in classification.
Genus Lycoperdon Tourn. In this genus the investing coat or peridium is membranaceous, vanishing above or becoming flaccid; bark or outer shell adnate, sub-persistent, breaking up into scales or warts; capillitium soft, dense, and attached to the peridium, base spongy and sterile.
