142 FLOWERLESS PLANTS 



dwell upon with a good deal of reserve, seeing 

 that there are a great many points which are 

 not as yet completely understood. 



The general question of the production and 

 distribution of spores is one which the student 

 may find of interest after he has become fami- 

 liar with some of the leading types of fungi. 

 Most of the species produce their spores in the 

 greatest abundance. In some groups, notably 

 amongst the Agarics and the Puff-Bails, the 

 amount of the fertile dust is simply prodigious. 

 Owing to the special arrangement of the gills 

 in an ordinary mushroom, the spore-producing 

 surface is very great. Here we have a hundred 

 or more thin plates, grouped together under a 

 protecting cap, each one of which bears spores 

 on both sides. An enormous surface capable 

 of spore production is thus provided. A very 

 large number of fungi, probably the great 

 majority, must rely upon the wind for the dis- 

 persal of their spores. Large quantities will 

 fall into unsuitable places, but the number 

 produced is so vast that a sufficiency of the 

 tiny atoms will make a successful start. In 

 some cases it is known that animals play a 

 useful part in the distribution of fungus spores. 



