the other then known British species o f G east rum, in the second volume o f the Linnean Transactions', and we have
no hesitation ih extracting the following interesting particulars relative to our plant: “ The volva of this Lycoperdon
is sunk deep into the ground; the summit being on a level with, or very little elevated above, the surface. On
taking one up, it was found to be nearly globular, but slightly depressed; of a dirty white; wrinkled and scaly; with
a short thick root terminated by a few small fibres. When cut open, this consisted of a soft, coriaceous coat, within
which was another, thicker, and of a much tougher Substance,; filled with a white curd-like substance, of,a very disagreeable
smell. This was so young that there was no appearance of the head. They remain a considerable time in
this state, appearing to ripen slowly; one which was discovered about the middle of August remained unchanged
till the end of November,-when it was found fully expanded, and resting on the surface of the.ground, in which it
had been before buried. This had been visited the preceding day, and not any alteration had been then observed
ih it. I t appears therefore^ that when ripe,- the change is very sudden ; and that the head, pressing against the interior
part of the volva, and probably assisted by the action of the sun, (for the day on 'which it expanded was remarkably
bright and fine,) the outer coat suddenly gives way, is split into an indeterminate number of rays ; the root
is broken off, and left in the ground; ana the plant being turned inside out, is necessarily raised upon the surface,
what was before the outer and upper part o f the volva being now next to the ground. This, which has been before
described as the mode o f expansion of the stellatum, is also common to these with the recolligens.”
O f this plant Desvauxhas made the genus Myriostoma, but he has stated nothing hew relative to'its structure,
having never probably, any more than Persoon, who has quoted the description of our countryman- Dickson, seen.a
specimen of it. Indeed it is a plant wholly confined to Great Britain, where it is rare, and found only'in' the autumnal
months. Our specimens were communicated by Mr. Turner, having been gathered by Messrs. Stone and
Woodward on sandy banks at Mettingham and Bungay, Suffolk; and a t Gillingham and Earsham, Norfolk. I t is
also stated by Withering to have been found near Hanley Castle, Warwickshire.
GEASTRUM FORNICATUM. ARCHED GEASTRUM.
GEASTRUMjforwicfltfw»?, volva quadrifida; peridio brevi-pedunculato, ore subacuminato, lacerato.
GEASTRUM quadrifidum. Pers. Disp. Meth. Fung. p. 6. Pers. Syn. Fung. p. 133. Pers.in Journ.
de Bot. m l. 2. p. 26. Decand. Fl. Fr. ed. 3. ml. 2. p. 267. Fl. Gall. Syn. p. 719.
■ PLECOSTOMA fornicatum. Desvau-v in Journ. de Bot. ml. 2-p- 101.
GEÄSTER volvte radiis et operculo elevatis. Watson in Phil. Trans. Abr. ml. 9. p. 98. t. 2. f 5.
LY CO PERD O N fornicatum. Huds. Angl. p. 644. Woodw. in- Linn. Trans, ml. 2. p. 61. With.
■ Bot. A r r . ed. 4. ml. 4. p. 368. Sotcerby Engl. Fung. t. 198.
LY C O P E R D O N fornicatum ß . quadrifidum. Bryant Hist. A c c .f. 15. (according to Woodward ) .,
LY C O P E R D O N volvam reflectens, ore pectinato. Schmid. I c .p . 145. t. 37- f 1. (small varieties.)
LY CO PE RD O N secundum, &c. Schceff. Fung. Barar. t. 183.
GEASTEROIDES phragmites fuscum, e volva erumpens, tetraradiis elevatum curiosum. Batarra
Fung. App. t. 39 f 1—5.
Class a n d Order. CRYPTOGAMIA FU N G I.
[N atural Order. FU N G I, Linn. Juss. Decand.']
Gen . Char. Vide Geastrum striatum.
Fungus inter majofes species.
Volva in quatuor segmenta erumpens ; cortice extemo
fusco, fibroso-camoso, crasso, extus rugoso, intus
glabro, in terra remanens, segmentis ercctis,
nunquam reflexis; interno coriaceo-membrana-
ceo, glabro, fusco-rufescente, ab externo separato,
fornicato-reflexo, segmentis biunciam longis, mar-
ginibus révolu tis, apicibus solummodo iis corticis
extend agglutinatis.
Peridium seminis Fagi Castaneæ magnitudine, sordide
fuscum, globosuin, brevi-pedunculatum, basicon-
strictum, ore subacuminato, lacerato.
Semina numerosa, pulveriformia, fibris brevibus, rigidis,
strictis immixtis.
Fungus among the larger species.
Volva breaking into four segments; the external coat
brown, between fibrous and fleshy, thick, rough
without, within smooth, remaining in the earth,
with the segments erect, never reflexed; the internal
coat between coriaceous and membranaceous,
smooth, reddish brown, separated from the
external, fornicato-reflexed, the segments two
inches long, with the marginsrevolute, the apices
alone adhering to those of the external coat.
Head the size of the .Seed of the Sweet Chesnut, dull-,
brown, globose, shortly pedunculate, constricted
at the base, the mouth subacuminate, lacerated.
Seeds numerous, resembling dust, mixed with short, rigid,
straight fibres.
Fig. 1. Plant nat. size. Fig. 2. Seeds and Filaments magnified.
This species, according to Mr. Woodward, whose description of it as well as the other stellated Lycoperdons cannot
be too highly appreciated, was first mentioned by Stirbech and Segur, two authors who wrote at the latter end
of the- 17th century, under the fanciful name of Anthropomorphus, and the last of these naturalists actually published
a figure of a cluster of these fungi, with human faces drawn on the heads.
’ Sir William Watson was the first to notice it as an English plant, and gave a good figure of it in the year 1744
in the Philosophical Transactions, since which time it has been described by various authors both at home and
abroad. Mr. Bryant was unfortunate in confounding it with the Lycoperdon stellatum of Linnæus, and Persoon has
been scarcely more happy in uniting with it the Geastrum quadrifidum, minus, of Schmidel, which has a mouth
like that of G. striatum figured above, and which has since been named Schmideli by Desvaux. I t is but justice
to Persoon to state what he says in his Mémoire published in Desvaux’s Journal, “ que le Lycoperdon fornicatum
publié pa rle botaniste anglais Hudson et figuré ensuite par Sowerby dans son ouvrage sur les Champignons qui
croissent en Angleterre, est une espèce très-distincte, et bien caractérisée par la présence d’un stypes ; ” but, besides
that his description sufficiently accords with our plant, he refers to figures which are universally acknowledged to
belong to the fornicatum of Hudson, and even quotes both Hudson and Woodward in his Synopsis Fungorum.
And with regard to the existence of a Stipes in our plant, if by that term he means the footstalk of the peridium,
his quadrifidum is furnished with one, for he says “ peridio pedicellate.”
Besides the arched figure of the volva of this p lant when in its perfect state', and its regularly quadrifid divisions,
(for there are sometimes three and sometimes five, though by mere accident,) there is a striking peculiarity belonging
to this plant in the volva separating from its outer thick and fleshy coat, leaving it imbedded- in the ground with its
four erect points supporting the corresponding segments o f the inner coat of the volva upon its apices, thus giving
the plant a most fanciful appearance. We have already intimated that a similar external coat may exist in an early
stage upon the volvæ of all these species; in some we know it remains entire after the bursting of the volva, and in
others we see it broken off in small pieces as if by decay.
This fungus has'been found in various parts of the kingdom upon dry hedge-banks, but particularly in Norfolk
and Suffolk. Our-fine specimen was communicated from Yorkshire by the Rev. James Dalton.