AUTHOR OF FOOD PRODUCTS, ETC.

Published in Serial Form--=No. 4=--Price, 50c. per number.

WASHINGTON, D. C.: A. R. Taylor, Publisher, 238 Ma.s.s. Ave. N.E.

1897.

Copyright, 1897, by Thomas Taylor, M. D., and A. R. Taylor.

GASTEROMYCETES.

Hymenium more or less permanently concealed, consisting in most cases of closely packed cells of which the fertile ones (the basidia) bear naked spores on distinct spicules, exposed only by the rupture or decay of the investing coat or peridium. Berkeley's Outlines.

This family has been subjected to numerous revisions since the days of Fries, when its structural characteristics were not so well understood as at present.

Montagne and Berkeley are credited with being the first to show the true structure of the hymenium in the puff-b.a.l.l.s, as well as to demonstrate the presence of basidia. This important discovery led to the correlating of the Gasteromycetes with the Hymenomycetes under the common t.i.tle Basidiomycetes, both having the spores borne upon basidia. The two families still remained distinct, however, not only because of the dissimilarity in their external features but princ.i.p.ally on account of the difference in the disposition and character of the hymenium.

In the Hymenomycetes the hymenium is exposed to the light from the first, and the spores drop from the basidia as they mature; whereas in the Gasteromycetes the hymenial pulp, or gleba, consisting of the spores with the supporting basidia and the hyphae, is enclosed within the substance of the fungus, and the spores are exposed only on the decay of the investing coat.

The basidia of the Gasteromycetes, though resembling those of the Hymenomycetes, are more variable in form and the number of the spores not so constant. They perform the same functions and bear spicules, sometimes in pairs, sometimes quaternate, each spicule being surmounted by a spore. They dissolve away as the spores mature and can, therefore, only be observed in the very young stage of the plant. The spores of the Gasteromycetes are usually colored and, except in the subterranean species, globose. As seen through the microscope they have often a rough warty appearance, sometimes spinulose. Paraphyses may be present as aborted basidia, but cystidia are rarely distinguished. A characteristic of a large proportion of the plants is the drying up of the hymenial substance, so that the cavity of the receptacle becomes at length filled with a dusty ma.s.s composed of spores and delicate threads, the remains of the shriveled hyphae.

The following table will serve to show the distinctive features of the four primary divisions of the Gasteromycetes:

_Lycoperdaceae_.--Hymenium fugitive, drying in a dusty ma.s.s of threads and spores, dispersed by an opening or by fissures of the peridium. Terrestrial.

_Phalloideae_.--Hymenium deliquescent and slimy; receptacle pileate; volva universal. Foetid fleshy fungi.

_Hypogaei_, or _Hymenogastreae_.--Hymenium permanent, not becoming dusty or deliquescent except when decayed. Capillitium wanting.

Subterranean.

_Nidulariaceae_.--Receptacle cup-shaped or globose; spores produced on sporoph.o.r.es or short basidia enclosed in globose or disciform bodies (sporangia) contained within a distinct peridium.

Terrestrial.

The section Lycoperdaceae contains upwards of 500 species or more than two-thirds of the whole number of recorded species of the Gasteromycetes. Lycoperdon, Bovista, and Geaster, its most conspicuous genera, are said to contain the largest number of well-known species. A few are edible.

The Phalloideae include about 90 species. The plants are usually ill-smelling and unwholesome. Some are stipitate, others are latticed, etc. Some are conspicuous for their bright coloring. In the young stage they are enclosed in an egg-shaped volva having a gelatinous inner stratum.

The plants of the Nidulariaceae are very minute, tough, and widely distributed. The species Cyathus, the "bird's-nest fungus," is quite common in some localities, and is interesting because of its peculiar form. The individual plant is very small, not more than two centimeters high. It resembles an inverted bell, or a miniature wine-gla.s.s. A delicate white membrane covers the top at first. This disappears as the plant matures, revealing lentil-shaped bodies packed closely together like eggs in a nest. These oval bodies are the peridiola containing the spores. They are usually found upon rotten wood or sticks on the ground.

Sixty-five species are recorded, but none are edible.

The plants of the division Hypogaei or Hymenogastreae are subterranean in habit, preferring a sandy soil. They are usually somewhat globose in form, having a thick outer coat or peridium, though in some of the genera the outer coat is very thin or obsolete. They are dingy in color.

In the young plants the interior substance somewhat resembles that of the truffle, but is streaked and mottled. When old the gleba consists of a dusty ma.s.s of threads and spores. They are known under various appellations, such as "underground puff-b.a.l.l.s," "false truffles," etc.

The Hypogaei are a.n.a.logous to the Tuberacei, except that the spores are not contained in asci as in the latter. Cooke says they appear to be the link which unites the Basidiomycetes to the Ascomycetes by means of the Tuberacei or genuine Truffles. In the young stage the basidia in the Hypogaei are easily distinguished by the aid of the microscope.

In external features and habit of growth the species of Elaphomyces, a genus of Tuberacei, closely resemble the Hypogaei, and in old age, when the _asci_ have disappeared, it is difficult to distinguish the plants of this genus from the Hypogaei.

The genus _Melanogaster_ contains an edible species, _M. variegatus_, Tulasne, commonly known in Europe as the "Red Truffle" or "False Truffle." _M. variegatus_ is usually gregarious and subterranean in habit. The exterior is minutely granular, tawny yellow or reddish rust color; the interior soft, bluish-black, streaked with yellow, the spore ma.s.s in maturity becoming p.u.b.escent. The odor is pleasantly aromatic, and the taste sweet. Under trees in woods. The variety _Broomeia.n.u.s_ Berk. is paler in the marbling, which shows reddish instead of yellow streaks. The pulpy ma.s.s is at first white, changing to a yellowish, smoky hue.

LYCOPERDACEae AND PHALLOIDEae.

The plants figured in Plates G and H belong to the Lycoperdaceae and Phalloideae.

LYCOPERDACEae.

Ma.s.see, who has given the Puff-Ball group very close study, says that in the gleba of the Lycoperdaceae, "at a very early period two sets of hyphae 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 spa.r.s.ely septate, often colored hyphae, which are persistent and form the capillitium. The latter are branches of the hyphae forming the hymenium."

GENERA LYCOPERDON AND BOVISTA.

To the genera Lycoperdon and Bovista belong most of the "Puff-b.a.l.l.s" 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 hyphae, or delicate threads which are seen mixed with the dusty ma.s.s of spores in the mature plant, forming what is called the capillitium, are an important element in cla.s.sification.

_Genus Lycoperdon_ Tourn. In this genus the investing coat or peridium is membranaceous, vanishing above or becoming flaccid; bark or outer sh.e.l.l adnate, sub-persistent, breaking up into scales or warts; capillitium soft, dense, and attached to the peridium, base spongy and sterile.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate G.

Gasteromycetes.

Six Types of the "Puff-Ball" Group.

Edible.]

PLATE G.

EDIBLE PUFF-b.a.l.l.s.

FIG. 1.--=Lycoperdon caelatum= Fries. "_Collapsing Puff-Ball_."

Peridium flaccid above, with mealy coating, obtuse, at length collapsing, the sterile stratum cellulose. Inner peridium distinct from the outer all round; capillitium nearly free, collapsing when mature, threads long and brittle; spores dingy olive, turning brown; base stem-like, broad and blunt, with root, obconical, somewhat spongy.

Common in pastures and open woods. Edible when young, but not much commended. Plant pale cream color.

FIGS. 2 and 3.--=Lycoperdon gemmatum= Batsch. "_Warted Puff-Ball_,"

"_Studded Puff-Ball_."

Plant sub-globular, with a stem-like base; white or cinereous, turning to light greyish-brown, the surface warty, the warts unequal, the larger ones somewhat pointed, the smaller granular. As the warts fall off they leave the surface of the denuded 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.