known as Lycoperdon cyathiforme Bosc. The puff-ball is so plain in its form that a description of its appearance is difficult. Usually the outside is colored brown and the covering is more or less irregularly checked, the white color of the interior showing between the darker, elevated areas. When still quite young the flesh is solid, of a milk-white color, and apparently quite dry. After two or three days it becomes soft, has a yellowish tint, develops a watery and later an amber-colored juice as it continues its development through to the later stages. If the mushroom remains ungathered, the interior dries up into a fine brown powder which is projected into the air when pressed by the finger. It is often blown away by the wind. When the fungus reaches this stage of decay it is very commonly known as "the devil's snuff-box." Finally the spores and other dust-like bodies are blown away, and there is left only a dry and leathery framework. In the latter stages the puff-ball is not regarded as edible, not because of its being poisonous, but on account of its dry and leathery consistency. In the neighborhood of Washington puff-balls are found commonly in the autumn on lawns and in gardens, and especially on vacant lots where the soil has remained uncultivated and been closely grazed by cattle. The puff-ball also tends to grow in a fairy ring form, and in the circular area in which it grows the grass is likely to be darker in color, showing the existence of a richer soil. It is only while the interior of the puff-ball is still solid and white, with something like the texture of cheese, that it has its highest edible properties.
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Fig. 65.—Puff-ball, Lycoperdon cyathiforme, Top View. Edible. (Three-fourths Natural Size.)—(Coville, Circular 13, Division of Botany.)
Cepe (Boletus edulis Bull.).—This variety of mushroom is one of the most
