200 BOTANY. 



filaments loosely arranged in the interior, v.ni an external 

 more compact limitary tissue forming a rind (peridium). 

 The basidia develop in a portion of the interior (the gleba), 

 the remainder being sterile (Fig. 116, B). 



365. Many common puff-balls belong to the genus Lyco- 

 perdon, the type of the family Lycoperdacece, of which 

 there are a good many species. The genus Calvatia con- 

 tains the Giant Puff-ball (0. maxima), whose spore-fruit is 

 sometimes 30 cm. (one foot) or more in diameter. The 

 proper plant, that is, the vegetative portion, 

 lives underground, obtaining its food from de- 

 caying vegetable matter. The great ball is a 

 spore-fruit composed of innumerable filaments 

 whose swollen extremities (basidia) bear spores 

 Fig. 'iir.- (hasidiospores). 

 Fungus fcya- 366. There are other genera, as the Earth- 

 susf. ^^NatuI stars (G-easter), whose outer coat splits into a 

 star-shaped form, the curious little Bird's-nest 

 Fungus (Crucibulum and Cyathus, Fig. 117), fetid Stink- 

 horn (Ithyphallus), etc. 



Practiced Studies. — (a) Collect specimens of puff-balls in various 

 stages of growth. Make very thin sections of the young spore-fruit, 

 and look for the cavities lined with spore-bearing cells (basidia). 



(6) Mount in alcohol some of the dust which escapes from a dry 

 pufi-ball. Examine with a high power, and note the spores and 

 fragments of broken-up filaments. 



(c) Dig up the earth under a cluster of young puff-balls, and ob- 

 serve the vegetative filaments. Examine some of these filaments 

 under the microscope. 



Systematic Literature. — Morgan, North American Fungi : Gaster- 

 omycetes. Saccardo, Sylloge Fungorum, 7' : 1-180. 



367. The Toadstools (Order 19, Hymenomyceteje). — 

 These plants in some respects are the highest of the chloro- 

 phyll-less Carpophytes. They are not only of considerable 



