Page:Coloured Figures of English Fungi or Mushrooms.djvu/629

 TAB. CCCXXXI. LYCOPERDON Linn. ed. 13. t. 2. p. 726.

With. ed. 3. v. 4. p. 382.

believe this is somewhat less common than Lycoperdon Proteus, with which it has been confounded. It is most frequent in its small state, and may generally be known by its globose structure, smoothish surface, and light colour; the whole forming a simple covering to the white cottony substance within; which substance, in an advanced age, becomes a mass of finely entangled fibres of a dark colour, holding an immense quantity of extremely subtile and fine powder, we presume the feeds. The covering too becomes dark, more or less of a brownish state colour, of a silky lustre, and stiff sattiny texture. Small plants in this state have been called Lycoperdon ardosiaceum by Bull. 192. and With. 383. 1 have found this plant in Kensington Gardens and other places, from the size of a pea to twenty or thirty inches in circumference. It has the same number of skins as Lycoperdon Proteus, but the outer one never so rough; which will help to distinguish it, as well as its being destitute of the cellular part at the bale. A small figure of this is called Lycoperdon giganteum by Batsch, p. 29. f. 165. TAB. CCCXXXII.

quite applicable to this species. Its many shapes are hardly to be desecribed. It is sometimes globose, like the last, and resembles it so much that they have been generally confounded. However, the outer skin in the present is generally rougher, and commonly forms woolly stellæ, more or less regular, whence Bulliard's 'Lycoperdon cælatum his Lycoperdon Bovista, tab. 447, being the same, with the stellæ washed or worn off, and its general form rounder, resembling the true Lycoperdon Bovista. The lower part of this plant conititutes its most distinguishing character, being always cellular, which is not the case with the other, though this structure is not to be seen in its younger state. Its seldom being merely globular will help to distinguish it. It is sometimes bottle-shaped, whence Bulliard's Lycoperdon utriforme, pl. 450. It is also occasionally shaped like a pear or an onion, whence Lycoperdon pyriforme and Lycoperdon cepæforme of the same author. We have also seen it branching and inosculating. The cellular part often grows out into a long stipes, whence Bulliard's Lycoperdon