FUNGI 



39 



rich earth which has fine threads of mycelium all thru it, but of 

 course not to be seen in the mass, which will continue to grow in 

 similar rich earth. Fig. 21 represents the mycelium of a mould 

 that grows upon bread, and illustrates well the mycelium of the 

 mushrooms. 



After the mycelium has grown for sometime and accumulated 

 a great amount of nutrition it is ready to form spores. Then it 

 pushes up rapidly the toad stool, puff ball, or what ever other 

 spore bearing apparatus it may possess. The conspicuous forms 

 that we see above the ground or on the rotting log are simply the 

 spore bearing part of the plant, tho they grow sometimes with 

 such remarkable rapidity as to make "mushroom growth" an 

 often used comparison. We must remember that the forming oJ 

 the conspicuous spore bearing portions of the mushroom is but an 

 incident in the life of the plant, and that it may have taken 



months of hard work tc 

 get ready for the import- 

 ant incident. 



Briefly the life of a 

 fungus consists of: The 

 sprouting of a minute 

 thread from a spore; the 

 growth of this thread 

 into a tangled felt of 

 mycelium which pene- 

 trates the substance it 

 grows upon; then the 

 forming a spore bearing 

 apparatus which pro- 

 duces the spores from 

 which the cycle begins 

 again. 



Fig. 16 A common form of the genus Boletus. In The WOrk OI the 



this the spores come from tubes, which . t 



are shown ou under surface of the cap. nature StUuy ClaSS may 



