206 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



sure to bring this fungus into sight especially in sandy pastures. About 

 one inch in diameter, it is nearly spherical in shape, quite smooth, and 

 creamy inside and out. 



Be on hand, if you want them, for they are very apt to cater to the 

 appetites of- the greedy larvae of certain insects if left for many hours. 



Figure 16. The Lead-colored I'uft-ball (Bovista plumbea). The left hand figure represents this 

 fungus when young, the central figure shows the same In section, while the mature 

 condition of the fungus is shown at the right. Natural size. (Ori^'inal.) 



This fungus is covered with two layers or coats, the inner one thinner 

 and tougher than the outer. The cheesy interior portion is quite spongy, 

 due to the presence of numerous minute, irregular cavities, each lined 

 with a spore-bearing layer or hymenium. The thick walls surrounding 

 these cavities are composed of interwoven mycelial filaments, some of 

 which are much branched and thick walled, while the others are slender, 

 thin walled and are connected with the basidia. or s])ore-bearing cells, in 

 the hymenium. As the puff-ball matures the white interior portion be- 

 comes yellow or brownish and water soaked due to the melting of the 

 basidia and thin-walled threads into a liquid condition. 



This moisture soon dries out tlie color becoming daiker. while the 

 thick-walled branched threads remain as a cottony mass, dusted full of 

 spores. In the meantime the outer coat of the puff-ball has cracked and 

 fallen away leaving the inner one like a lead-colored paper bag. A small 

 opening forms in the ajtex of this bag and the mature puff-ball is ready 

 to be stepped on. 



Only a slight pressure is needed to send out a dark brown smoke-like 

 puff of spore dust which quickly vanishes in air. The elastic property of 

 the cottony stuffing causes the puff-ball to expand to its original size as 

 soon as the pressure is removed and it is then ready for another squeeze. 



Its 



The ficpavating Puff-BaU. (Lycoperdon separans.) 



This IS another puff-ball about the size of the foregoing one. 

 •.^uter coat is white at first and thickly covered with pointed warts or 

 uspines of the same color. This coating crumbles away in little frag- 

 ments as the fungus ripens, thus uncovering irregular patches of the 



