SOME COMMON BRITISH FUNGI 



241 



quently greenish, passing into a pale 

 ochre border, with fine brown Hnes upon 

 the upper surface, marking zones. In the 

 early stage of growth the ]ilant does not 

 show the hairy character. The margin 

 is blunt, sometimes a clear white colour, 

 when the stuni]-) ap]iears to be elaborately 



or rarely single, tlie spores, when ripe, 

 forming a mass of powder. The photo- 

 graph c^n p. 240 shows the various stages 

 of growth — from the early globular form 

 to the more pear-shaped one, giving the dis- 

 tinctive title of pynforme to this species. 

 At first the Fungus is covered with 



XYLAKIA HYPOXYLON. 

 Shown growing on moss on a Beech stump. 



decorated with braiding. The surface is 

 wrinkled and reflexed, and the hymenium 

 beneath even, smooth, yellow in colour, 

 and without juice. It is a perennial 

 species mostly, coriaceous or woody ; 

 the pileus is leathery, and generally 3 

 to 5 in. across, being arranged in close 

 groups one over the other in tile fashion. 



The " Puff-ball " species, Lycoperdon 

 (ord. Gastromycetes), belongs to the second 

 of two main groups dividing the Basi- 

 diomycetes, viz., Hymenomxcctcs and Gas- 

 tromycetes. The construction of the 

 hymenium of Group I has already been 

 dealt with ; in Group 2 this fruit-bearing 

 surface is enclosed until the spores are 

 ripe and ready to be dispersed. The 

 Lycoperdect form one of the seven sub- 

 orders. The skin, or peridium, is double, 



31 



minute pointed warts that give a frosted 

 appearance to the surface ; later, they 

 disappear before the bursting of the ball, 

 which takes place from the mouth indi- 

 cated in the large specimen at the right- 

 hand base of the picture. It is an edible, 

 rooting species, possessing long white 

 branching fibres. The colouring is dirty 

 white changing to brown, the flesh dingy 

 wliite transformed later into the brown 

 dust of the spores. 



The curicnis-looking growth of tooth-like 

 forms uj^on the uujss shown on this page 

 represents a common si)ecies descended 

 from an ancestor older than any of the 

 preceding illustrations. It is the one ex- 

 ample given from the i)rimary group of 

 the Ascomycetes, all the remaining seven 

 being descended from the liasidiomycetes. 



