An artificial class of fungi in the phylum Basidiomycota in which basidiospores are produced in a mass (gleba) and enclosed within a membrane called the peridium. Such enclosed fruit bodies evolved many times; hence the class is heterogeneous. Most Gasteromycetes have lost the ability to discharge spores ballistically off basidia directly into air. Since internal sporulation prevents normal spore drop into air currents, these fungi have developed other dispersal mechanisms. Puffballs (Lycoperdales) typically form powdery spores in a perforated peridium that acts like a bellows when hit by rain. Earthstars (Geastrum) disperse similarly, but the peridia are elevated on arched rays. Bovista scatters spores while tumbling in the wind; Calvatia cracks open in place. In the gleba, cottony threads called capillitia slow the rate of dispersal. Stalked puffballs (Tulostomatales and Podaxales) characteristically form underground, emerging on stalks after spore maturation; they are adapted to desert life by their protected hypogeous maturation. False puffballs (Sclerodermatales) typically have thicker peridial walls than true puffballs.