302 



HOT AX V: PRINCIPLES AND PROBLEMS 



as the hard, bracket-Hke forms so common on rotting logs, which 

 are very destructive of wood and are sometimes parasites upon 

 Hving trees. In the Tooth fungi (Hydnaceae) the hymenium 

 covers the surface of tooth-hke or spine-hke projections. 



Close to the Agaricales are the Coral fungi (Clavariales, Fig. 

 179) the much-branched sporophores of which are covered by the 

 hymenium. 



B. G aster omycetes. — These arc the highest of the fungi. Their 

 fructification is in general a rounded mass of hyphae, the outer- 



FlG, 



)ove, and young puff-balls, below. 

 In the photograph are also ferns, lycopods, and leafy liverworts. 



most layer of which becomes differentiated into a cortex or 

 peridium, surrounding the inner mass of hyphae and basidia 

 which is called the gleha. Two important orders are the Lyco- 

 perdales and the Phallales. 



1. Lycoperdales or Puffballs (Figs. 178 and 179). — The sporo- 

 phore is here a globular structure which often becomes very large 

 and is usually edible when young. At maturity the peridium 

 breaks open at the top and a mass of dark spores is discharged 

 therefrom. 



2. Phallales or Stink-horns (Fig. 180). — The gleba here ripens 

 into a foul-smelling mass, breaks through the peridium, and is 



