326 



BOTANY. 



Puff-balls, of which the best known is L. giganteum, the Giant Puff- 

 ball, an edible species, from ten to thirty cm. in diameter ; Geaster, 

 the Earth-stars, including several species, and Crucibulum, of which G. 



vulgare is very common. 

 ' (b) This order presents 



no unusual difficulties to 

 the student, and it is one 

 which should receive more 

 attention than it has hith- 

 erto. For the study of 

 the structure the speci- 

 mens should be taken in 

 their earlier stages, as but 

 little can be made out 

 after the hyphse begin 

 breaking up or dissolving. 



424. Order Hy- 

 menomycetes. These 

 plants are doubtless to 

 be regarded as the 

 highest of the chlo- 

 rophyll - free Carpo- 

 sporeae. They are not 

 only of considerable 

 size (ranging from one 

 , to twenty centimetres, 

 or more, in height), 

 but they present a 

 structural complexity 

 which is so much 

 greater than that of 



Fig. 225. Development of Agaricus campestris. the other orders, that 

 A, underground mycelium (m), bearing numerous . , 



young sporocarps of various sizes. /., vertical sec- they Cannot DUt DC 1*6- 

 tion of a young sporocarp, showing its attachment -, -, ,-, -, i , 



to the mycelium, m. II., vertical section of an garded as tlie mgnCSt 

 older sporocarp, showing the annular opt-ning, I. f ,> j> 

 ///., the same at a still later stage. IV., young sporo- OI me -ingl. 

 carp, with stalk (st) ; rudimentary gills ((), and the 4-y.p 

 beginning of the veil (). V., sporocarp nearly ma- tllt; 

 ture ; m. mycelium ; h, pileus ; I, the gills (hyme- fhpv -nrnrlnpp an ablin- 

 nial lamellaj); v, the veil, not yet ruptured; i, a very tne yP 1( 

 yonng sporocarp. All natural size. Alter Sachs. dant mycelium under- 

 ground, or in the substance of decaying wood ; it fre- 

 quently consists of multitudes of whitish jointed hyphas, 

 which are loosely interwoven, but in some cases they be- 



