f 



.-; r " their white roots (mycelium} 



in the form of a pale stringy 

 more or less visible mould, 

 S ready after the first rain 



to send up its variety of 

 curious shapes, here a puff-ball or a para- 

 sol, there a tiny club or branching yellow 

 tree, now a scarlet berry or a tiny teacup filled with 

 buttons, or perhaps a wee mortar that bursts and hurls 

 its balls of spores several inches across the leaves. At 

 first glance they would appear to grow entirely at hap- 

 hazard, but the student of fungi soon 

 learns that few plants are more partic- 

 ular and consistent in the selection of 

 their haunts. 



Would you put the matter to a sim- 

 ple test? This old dead chestnut -burr 

 at your feet. Let us examine it. What 

 do you find? It seems to be speckled 

 with tiny white dots barely larger than 

 the period of this -printed page. If we turn our pocket- 

 glass upon them, we find them to be perfectly formed 

 globular mushrooms growing from the sides of the de- 

 caying spines of the burr. Each of these bursts like a 

 puff-ball, and sheds thousands of spores, which are taken 







