6o 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



well. Then if one could 

 enter it he would see 

 the whole wall covered 

 ^\•itll ovoid spores, now 

 apparently as large as ap- 

 ples. Since the pores all 

 open downwards it is easy 

 to see that if the spores 

 fall from their supports 

 the}' will gradually if not 

 immediately tumble out 

 through the opening and 

 may then be distributed 

 by wind or water. It is 

 altogether best never to 

 eat any kind of a pore- 

 fungus in which the pore- 

 layer is readily^ separable 

 from the rest of the fruit- 

 body, although there are 

 a few harmless varieties 

 even in this generally 

 dangerous group. 



Some shelf-fungi are 

 not truly pore-fungi, but 

 the under side is perfectly 

 smooth or marked at best 

 with low, longitudinal 

 wrinkles. These may, per- 

 haps, be considered as 

 forms in which the pores 

 have either not yet come 

 to develop, or as varieties 

 in which for some reason 

 the pores have become 

 shallower until finally 

 I h c y have been com- 

 pletely lost. 



Kic. 18.— A pore-fuiiK»s lying flat 

 upon a decaying branch. After 

 I,lov<l. 



