7 20 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



work? What is the color within the 

 meshes? 



4. Take one of these fungi, lay it on 

 a sheet of white paper, and note the 

 color of the spores. 



LESSON CLXXXV 

 THE STINKHORNS 



To give a nature-study lesson on the 

 stinkhorn is quite out of the question, 

 for the odor of these strange growths is 

 so nauseating that even to come near to 

 one of them in the garden is a disagree- 

 able experience. The reason for men- 

 tioning them at all is because of the 

 impression made by them that most 

 mushrooms are ill smelling, which is a 

 slander. 



It is a pity that these fungi are so 

 offensive that we do not care to come 

 near enough to them to admire them, 

 for they are most interesting in appear- 

 ance. The scientific name of our com- 

 monest genus when translated means 

 "the net bearers," and it is a most ap- 

 propriate name. The stout, white stem 

 is composed of network without and 

 within. The outer covering of the stem seems to tear loose from the 

 lower portion as the stem elongates, and is lifted so that it hangs as a 

 veil around the bottom of the bell-shaped cap, which is always covered 

 with a pitted network. The mycelium, or spawn, of the stinkhorn 

 consists of strands which push their way through the ground 

 or through the decaying vegetable matter on which they feed. 

 On these strands are produced the stinkhorns, which at first 

 look like eggs; but later the top of the egg is broken, and the strange 

 horn-shaped fungus pushes up through it. The spores are borne 

 in the chambers of the cap, and when ripe the substance of these 

 chambers dissolves into a thick liquid in which the spores float. The flies 

 are attracted by the fetid odor and come to feast upon these fungi and to 

 lay their eggs within them, and incidentally they carry the spores away 

 on their brushy feet, and thus help to spread the species. 



A stinkhorn. 

 Photo by George F. Atkinson. 



MOLDS 

 Teacher's Story 



It is lucky for our peace of mind that our eyes are not provided with 

 microscopic lenses, for then we should know that the dust, which seems to 

 foregather upon our furniture from nowhere, is composed of all sorts of 

 germs, many of them of the deadly kind. The spores of mold are very 



