228 PHYLUM VII. CARPOMYCETEAE 



(peridium). The basidia develop in a portion of the in- 

 terior (the gleba), the remainder being sterile. 



381. Many common puff-balls belong to the genus 

 Lycoperdon, the type of the family Ly coper daceae, of 

 which there are a good many species. The genus Cal- 

 vatia contains the Giant Puff-ball (C. maxima), whose 

 spore fruit is sometimes 30 centimeters or more in diam- 

 eter. Here it must be remembered that the proper plant 

 lives underground, obtaining its food from decaying vege- 

 table matter, while the great ball is a fruit containing 

 basidia and basidiospores. 



382. The Bird-nest fungi (Order NIDULARIALES) are 

 so noticeable that they should be examined here. These 

 little fruits usually grow on twigs and sticks, and are 

 closed at first, and then open and cup shaped. They are 

 a centimeter or less in height and width, and when mature 

 contain several small brownish spore packets (the "eggs" 

 of the little "nests"). When young these "eggs" are 

 small cavities lined with basidia and surrounded by a 

 dense layer of hyphae. When the tissues about them 

 deliquesce these spore-bearing cavities persist as hard 

 walled bodies. 



FIG. 109. Development FIG. 110. Development 



of bird-nest fungi. of stinkhorn. 



383. The Stink-horns (Order PHALLALES) live as sap- 

 rophytes, feeding upon decaying organic matter in the 

 ground, or less frequently as parasites in the roots of 

 various plants, eventually developing globose subterra- 

 nean fruits. These fruits produce their spores in a circu- 



