PUFF BALLS, LYCOPERDACEiE 



of pleasure to many barefoot boys who find 

 a certain joy in using their toes to make the 

 pufif balls ''smoke." Most of the larger 

 species develop no terminal aperture, and 

 the spores are liberated only with the gen- 

 eral breaking of the sporophore wall. 

 Besides the wall, the only portion of the 

 sporophore which does not take part in the 

 formation of the spores in the true puff ball 

 is the sterile base; and the latter in certain 

 species persists in characteristic form until 

 the following season. They are not very 

 distinctive in habitat, growing in woods, 

 fields, and pastures. There are species 

 which are minute and others which are rela- 

 tively gigantic, but in all of these the dis- 

 tinguishing structural feature of the family 

 is the internal spore-forming habit. 



When young, and practically up to the 

 time of attaining full size, nearly all puff 

 balls possess white flesh; and so long as this 

 inner tissue is white, the puff balls are to be 

 recommended for the table. When past 

 their prime, or when attacked by insects 



183 



