CHAPTER XXVII. 



FUNGI. 



" "We'll make a feast in our mossv dell, 

 Of infant puff-ball and rare morel, 

 And many a favoured guest shall sup 

 On lily dew from a siller cup. 

 The aged puff-balls shall help us to cheat 

 The dainty bees of their luscious meat ; 

 While others shall burn to give us light, 

 And scare from our dell the dreary night." 



AVicliffe Lane. 



HE second class of fungi are characterized by 

 having the hynieniuni, or fruit-bearing part, 

 enclosed in a single or double envelope. It is 

 therefore called the envelope class, or Gfasteromycetes. 



In this class we look no more for the column and 

 capital, though that form appears in exceptive cases. 

 The general contour is spherical, or approaching to spheri- 

 cal, but there are many variations from this, and forms 

 of great elegance and interest. 



The first order of envelope fungi is subterranean in its 

 habits ; its characteristic distinction is that the hymen- 

 ium does not turn to dust until the whole plant decays. 



This order is called Hypogei. When staying near Bath, 



s 



