PUFFBALLS 



yellow, and then to a greenish brown. Later, the wet 



mass becomes dry and powdery. The outside grows 



darker as the puff ball dries. The spores are now ripe 



and the skin opens by a small hole so that they can 



escape. Such puffl^alls are often seen lying on the 



ground or clinging to old stumps or dead trunks of trees. 



A^Tien the boys 



and girls pick 



them up and 



squeeze them to 



see the '^ smoke," 



they are really 



helping them to 



scatter their 



spores so they 



may grow into 



new plants. 



There are 

 many kinds of 

 puffball, but we 

 will talk of but 

 two of them. 



The first and largest is the giant puffball. It is from 

 eight to fifteen inches across. The skin is thin and 

 nearly smooth — whitish at first, but yellowish as it 

 grows old. It is found in grassy places during August 

 and September. 



Before matches were made, the dry, spongy inside 



87 



Pear-Shaped Puffballs. 



