haps by the subsequent exposure to the air) mostly becomes smooth and
shining. When recently opened, the substance of the outer peridium
is thick and succulent, and the inner peridium appears sessile ; the colour
is also white or slightly grey, faintly tinged with red. In a short
time, the succulent lining of the outer peridium cracks, and generally
peels off, though it sometimes contracts and remains permanent. I f it
peels off, the p a rt left becomes in age dingy and reddish, very thin, and
somewhat shining. I f it does not peel off, a dingy greyish hue is re tained.
After the contraction or removal of the spongy portion, the
inner peridium is found to be furnished with a short, thickish stipes,
2-3 lines in length. Inner peridium globose, somewhat depressed, glabrous,
whitish, turning to grey, furnished with a conical orifice, composed
of an indefinite number of striated segments, terminating in a
tu ft of woolly filaments. The interior is filled with a mass of globose
sporidia, attached to numerous filaments, some of which ascend from
the base ; b u t the greater part proceed from the inner surface of the
peridium to the centre.
It is with peculiar satisfaction that I find myself enabled
to publish a figure illustrative of the beautiful genus Geastrum.
It is recorded by Mr W o o d w a r d in the second volume of the
Linnean Transactions, that Sir J. E. S m i t h discovered the
species now described near Edinburgh in the year 1782. Since
that period, it remained unnoticed in Scotland, till Mr H e r
io t found a solitary specimen recently in Fifeshire, of which
an excellent drawing was immediately taken by Mrs H e r i o t .
In order to render my representation, however, more complete,
specimens in different stages of growth have been kindly communicated
to me from England, by Mr F u r t o n and the Uev.
W. T. B r e e .
The same degree of uncertainty respecting the proper synonymes
of this species, as existed when W o o d w a r d published
his excellent account of the British Geastra, remains in full force.
G. rufescens of P e r s o o n seems to differ only by the inner peridium
being sessile. P e r s o o n has referred to S c h æ f f e r ’s figure,
1.182., which W o o d w a r d has justly observed to be perfectly
similar to our plant recently opened, when the peduncle is
invisible. His drawing was obviously taken from newly opened
specimens, and therefore may be actually G. multifidum. The
G. coronatum of P e r s o o n I consider as decidedly our species ;
and the author refers to S c h m i d e l ’s leones, t. 46. (a work I
have no means of consulting), which, according to W o o d w a r d ,
“ certainly belongs to Lycoperdon stellatum:’ The var. (3,
however, of P e r s o o n ’s G. coronatum, is a distinct species, the
G. striatum of D e C a n d o l l e , and well figured in the New
Series of the “ Flora Loiidinensis.” G. multifidum of P e r s
o o n and of D e C a n d o l l e , is acknowledged by both authors
to he the Lycoperdon stellatum of W o o d w a r d , and consequently
of L i n n ^ u s . The description also agrees in every
particular. I have therefore adopted their specific name; for
the older one of stellatum cannot well he associated with the
generic name of Geastrum.
If the species figured by S o w e r b y in his “ English Fungi”
at tab. 82. under the name of Lycoperdon recolligens (subsequently
named L . sessile) has really a sessile inner peridium, it
will probably be the Geastrum rufescens I have already alluded
to, and of which D e C a n d o l l e has remarked, that it grows in
similar situations as G. hygrometricum {Lycoperdon recolligens,
W o o d w .), and is probably only a variety of that plant.
There is no doubt, however, of it being sufficiently distinct.
There is one appearance occasionally presented by G. mul-
tifidum, which, to a person unacquainted with the plant in its
growing state, is extremely perplexing. I allude to the very
rough, partly granulated, partly tomentose coat, which sometimes
covers the surface of the outer peridium. It is at all
times present in G. fornicatum {G. quadrifidum, P e r s . ) ; but
I only know of one writer who has mentioned it as a character
belonging to any other species. P e r s o o n , speaking of the
segments of the outer peridium of G. coronatum (our species),
says, “ radiis multifidis umhrinis externe granulosis subexpan-
sis.” Two of the specimens communicated to me by Mr P u r -
TON exhibited this roughness, while a third was so wholly destitute
of it, as to be smooth and shining. Mr P u r t o n informs
me that it depends upon circumstances (in part probably atmospheric
ones) how far this rough tomentose coat is removed ;
and that he has specimens in his possession half-denuded of it,
and the denuded portion smooth and shining.
The size of this fungus varies exceedingly. The outer pe