6o 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



well. Then if one could 

 enter it he would see 

 the whole wall covered 

 with 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 

 they 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 1 o w, 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 

 they have been com- 

 pletely lost. 



FIG. 18. A pore-fungus lying flat 

 upon a decaying branch. After 

 lyloyd. 



