FUNGUSES 63 
particular part attached to unnatural growth, and of the 
same kind, on a larger scale, are those bunches of close- 
set twigs coming in an unnatural way from the branches 
of the birch, and looking for a moment like the wreck of 
a jay’s nest. These, by-the-by, were a great puzzle to our 
forefathers, who solved the difficulty by declaring them 
to be “ witches’ brooms.” ‘So they may be, but the witch 
in this case is simply a boring and twining mass of 
fungus tubes. Still the treatment once given to so-called 
witches is a good example to follow, for branches so 
infected should be at once cut off and burned, fungus 
and all, to encourage the others. 
We now come to the mushroom and toadstool group, 
which in many ways is highly developed, but which 
shows no sign of the double machinery for reproduction. 
From their advanced stage in other things, one would 
imagine that they had once possessed them, but that 
capacity for their use had been lost by neglect. 
The general type of plant consists of the usual branch- 
ing mycelium, but the fructification is in the shape of a 
stalked cap, on the under side of which are many flat 
plates known as “gills.” On these the spores are formed, 
quietly dropping, as a rule, to the ground when ripe. The 
common puff-ball varies somewhat, for the spores are kept 
in a tough ball until they and their holders have passed 
through three stages. First, 
they are tough and fairly dry 
like a mushroom; then they 
become squashy and slimy ; 
and then they take the form 
of dry dust like snuff. The 
top opens, and the wind 
carries the spores all over ee uz 
the field. PUFF-BALL. 
