336 



SOTANT. 



Puff-balls, of which the best known is L. giganteum, the Giant Puff- 

 ball, an edible species, from ten to thirty em. in diameter ; Oeaster, 

 the Earth-stars, including several species, and Grucibulum, of which 0. 



imlgo/re is very common. 

 , \^ ' (6) This order presents 



no unusual difficulties to 

 the student, and it is one 

 which should receive more 

 attention than it has hith- 

 erto. For the study of 

 the structure the speci- 

 mens should be taken in 

 their earlier t-tages, as but 

 little can be made out 

 after the hyphse begin 

 breakinijf up or dissolving. 



424. — Order Hy- 

 menomyeetes. These 

 plants tire doubtless to 

 be regarded as the 

 highest of the, chlo- 

 rophyll - free Carpo- 

 sporese. They are not 

 only of considerable 

 size (ranging from one 

 to twenty centimetres, 

 or more, in height), 

 but they present a 

 structural complexity 

 which is so much 

 greater than that of 



Fig. 225.— Development of Agaricm campestris. the other Orders, that 

 A., undergrouud mycelium (m), bearing numerous . x i, j. -u 



young sporocarps of various sizes. /., vertical sec- they Cannot DUt DC I'C- 

 tion of a young enorocarp, showing its attachment ^ -, , i i • v, j. 



to the mycelium, m. //., verticaf seciion of an garded aS the highest 

 older sporocarp, showing the annular opening, ^. j; j-i -P-ny^rr^ T iVc 



7//., the same at a still later stage. /F.,youugspoi-o- 01 me lungl. IjlKB 

 carp, with stalk (st) ; rudimentary gills (0, and the 4.t,„ flaHtpvnTnvpptp's 

 beginning of the veil («). K, sporocarp nearly ma- ^^^ uasieromyceieb, 

 ture ; m, mycelium; A, pileiis ; I, the gills (hyme- flipv T>rnrlnf>p an nhiin- 

 nial lamelto); v, theveil,notyet rlipturld; i, a very ^'^^J prOQUCe an d,DUU 

 young sporocarp. All natural size.— After Sachs. dant myCclium Under- 

 ground, or in the substance of decaying wood ; it fre- 

 quently consists of multitudes of whitish jointed hyphse, 

 which are loosely interwoven, but in some cases they be- 



