Minnesota Plant Life. 6 7 



carry away and distribute, thus performing a work for the plant. 

 But in a few hours the whole fruit-body decays and the eggs, 

 if any had been entrusted to it under the apparently mistaken 

 notion that it would be a good place for maggots to develop, 

 all miserably perish. There seems to be no other way to 

 describe such behavior except as obtaining service from the in- 

 sect under false pretences, and if plants were really respon- 

 sible creatures these carrion-fungi would doubtless find them- 

 selves in some plant-penitentiary. 



Even more remarkable is the behavior of a Brazilian relative 

 of the stinkhorn, which, in addition to all the devices that are 

 employed by the Minnesota species, adds a conspicuous white 

 veil, hanging down from the cap around the stalk. The veil 

 is reported by travelers to be faintly phosphorescent at night 

 and, if so, adds to the attractive influence which the plant might 

 have upon night-flying insects. There are several species of 

 stinkhorns in the northern United States, but up to the present 

 time I have seen only three in Minnesota, one of which has a 

 veil. It is quite certain, however, that others occur. The only 

 way of eradicating them from a lawn, where they are offensive 

 objects if produced in large numbers, is to dig up carefully and 

 remove the underground portion, for if this is not done the 

 plant will offer its repulsive fruits year after year. 



Truffle puff-balls. Some plants, not very distant relatives 

 of the carrion fungus, produce their fruit-bodies entirely under- 

 ground. Such forms may be described as subterranean puff- 

 balls. They are not unlike the well-known truffle of the mar- 

 kets in outward appearance, but are widely different in struc- 

 ture. A few of them have been found growing in Minnesota 

 woods. Dogs or pigs can be trained to dig them, finding them 

 by their odor, and, indeed, this is the method which is used by 

 truffle-hunters in the woods of Europe. 



Puff-balls. More familiar by far to the ordinary observer 

 than these underground forms are the puff-balls which are so 

 common in fields, pastures, woods and meadows throughout 

 the state. A very considerable number of varieties of puff- 

 balls may be found by any one who looks for them and is a close 

 observer. One variety abundant in plowed fields, where it grows 

 among the stubble after a corn or wheat crop has ripened, 



