CARPOPHYTA. 1b 
solve and, the watery portions evaporating, leave a dusty 
mass of black spores. 
The spores germinate by sending out a short filament 
much as in the wheat-rust (Fig. 95, 4 and 
B), upon which minute sporids are 
formed. The subsequent history of the 
sporids is not known. 
362. Other Smuts, as Grain-smut or 
Black Blast (Ustilago segetum) of wheat, 
oats, and barley, and the Bunt or Stinking- 
smut (Tilletia tritici) of wheat have a 
structure and mode of development close- 
ly resembling the foregoing. 
Comparing the spores of the Smuts with those 
of the preceding orders, we here consider them as 
sac-spores (ascospores), and the mass of tissues Fic. 96.—Ends of 
in which they are produced, as a degraded spore- Hemet 
fruit. The orderly arrangement of spore-sacs so of Indian-corn Smut, 
. < ban a showing, a, b, young 
evident in the Cup-fungi is less marked in the gpores;’c,’ a ‘spore 
more parasitic Black Fungi; it is scarcely notice- Sis, Magni- 
able in the Rusts, while in the Smuts it has en- 
tirely disappeared. As the parasitism increases the structural degra- 
dation also increases. 
Practical Studies.—(a) Collect several smutted ears of Indian corn. 
Mount a little of the black internal mass in water and observe tke 
spores. 
(6) Make very thin slices of young fresh specimens and examine 
for parasitic and spore-bearing filaments. The outer tissues of the 
distorted kernels are generally best. 
(c) Make similar studies of the Grain-smut, which may be readily 
collected in June or a few days after the ‘‘ heading” of the grain 
(wheat, oats, or barley). 
CuassIV. Basipiomycerss (the Puff-balls and Toadstools). 
363. The'plants of this class are among the largest and 
finest of the fungi. They are mostly saprophytes whose 
