THE WONDERFUL FUNGUS TRIBE 



October 6th 



|NE of the eminent authorities on fungi, Fries, 

 has estimated that the spores in a single 

 puff-ball may reach a total of ten millions. 

 Under favorable conditions of growth their 

 yield would cover an area of two square 

 miles. Thousands upon thousands of puff-balls are sow- 

 ing their brown spore smoke upon every autumn breeze, 

 and millions of other fungous growths toadstools, 

 mushrooms, etc. are also adding their myriads. Did 

 the reader ever stop to think what infinite potentialities 

 were borne in the cloud of dust that obscures the land- 

 scape just before a storm? 



At first glance Nature would seem to be needlessly 

 prodigal of her means towards the perpetuation of these 

 singular and omnipresent plants. But her generosity is 

 the result of deep design. She knows full well that not 

 one in thousands of these floating atoms will ever veg- 

 etate. And yet they would seem to be common enough, 

 A single short walk in the woods almost anywhere will 

 show us a whole museum of them, for they are almost 

 universal in their growth. Hardly a square foot of the 

 leaf mould beneath oar feet but what is threaded bv 



