60 MUSHROOMS. 



3, the Puff-balls (Lycoperdons) ; 4, the Stink 

 horns (Phalloidse.) 



Order 1. SOLBRODERMiE, THE THICK-SKINNED 

 FUNGI. 



Our attention will be confined to only one 

 genus, and, indeed, one species of this family. 

 We often see in our walks what at a first glance 

 look like potatoes lying along the road, and the 

 suggestion arises that some careless boy has 

 been losing potatoes from his basket on his way 

 home fi-om the country store. We stoop to 

 pick them up, and find them rooted to the 

 ground and covered with warts and scales. 

 We cut them open and find them a purplish- 

 black color inside. It is a mass of closely 

 packed unripe spores. In a few days the upper 

 part of the outside covering decays, bursts 

 open, and the ripe spores escape. This is 

 called the common hard-rind fungus, or Sclero- 

 derma vulgare. 



Order 2. NIDULARLffi, THE BIRD'S-NEST FUNGI. 



This is again divided into three genera. 

 The Crucible (crucibulum), the Cup (Cya- 

 thus), the Bird's-nest proper (Nidularia.) 



