326 



BOTANY. 



Puff-balls, of which the best known is L. giganteum, the Giant Puff- 

 ball, an edible species, from ten to thirty cm. in diameter ; Oeaster, 

 the Earth-stars, including several species, and Crucibulujn, of which C. 



vulgcvre is very common. 



(6) This order presents 

 no unusual difficulties to 

 the student, and it is one 

 which should receive more 

 attention than it has hith- 

 erto. For the study of 

 the structure the speci- 

 mens should be taken in 

 their earlier stages, as but 

 little can be made out 

 after the hyphse begin 

 breaking up or dissolving. 



424. Order Hy- 

 menomycetes. These 

 plants are doubtless to 

 be regarded as the 

 highest of the chlo- 

 rophyll - free Carpo- 

 sporeae. They are not 

 only of considerable 

 size (ranging from one 

 to twenty centimetres, 

 or more, in height), 

 but they present a 

 structural complexity 

 which is so much 

 greater than that of 



Fig. 225. Development of Agaricus campustris. the other Orders, that 

 A, underground mycelium (m), bearing numerous , ' 



young sporocarps of various sizes. /., vertical sec- tlieV Cannot but be T6- 

 tionofa young eporocarp, showing its attachment "-, -, ,-, i , 



to the mycelium, V //., verticaf section of an garded as the highest 

 older sporocarp, showing the annular opening, 1. 11 * -r -i 



///., the same at a still later stage. IV., youngspSro- Ol the Iimgl. Like 



Be'a a r n y d ma e the Guteromycete* 

 they produce an abun- 



yonng sporocarp. All natural size. After Sachs. dailt mycelium Under- 

 ground, or in the substance of decaying wood ; it fre- 

 quently consists of multitudes of whitish jointed hyph*. 

 which are loosely interwoven, but in some cases they be- 



