690 



THE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



aoms, &c. They are all of them more or less subterranean saprophytes, appearing 

 above the surface to discharge their spores. The arrangements for the accomplish- 

 ment of this purpose are very varied. The PufF-balls include the genera Lycoper- 

 don, Bovista, Scleroderma, &c. When young a large portion of the interior has a 

 chambered structure (the gleba), and in these chambers the spores are budded ofl". 

 At maturity the fructification appears above the surface of the ground, and the 

 whole of the substance of the walls of the chambers breaks down, except for certain 

 branching threads (the capillitium, see fig. 391 ^), which persists along with the 



Fig. 391.— Gasteromycetes. 



fjycoperdon coTisteitotum. 2 Tulostoma mam-inosu-m. 3 Capillitium and spores of Tulostcmia. ^ Geaster multijidus. ^ Geasier 

 fornicatus. ^ Cyathus striatus. 7 Longitudinal section of same. ^ Clathrus cancellatus. sx 80; 7 slightly enlarged; the 

 rest nat. size. 



minute spores {Scleroderma has no capillitium). The latter escape by the peridium 

 becoming perforated. Lycoperdon (see fig. 391 ^) differs from Bovista in having a 

 sterile basal portion, which is sometimes considerably elongated. In Tulostoma 

 (fig. 391 ^) the outer layer of the peridium bursts and the sterile basal portion 

 elongates considerably, hoisting up the gleba inclosed in an inner peridium. The 

 Giant Puflf-ball (Lycoperdon giganteum,) sometimes attains huge dimensions — 

 occasionally a metre in diameter. Allied to the Puff-balls is Geaster, the Earth-star 

 (figs. 391 * and 391 ^). In this genus the outer peridium splits into segments and 

 folds back, the inner peridium becoming perforated and liberating the spores. 

 Earth-stars are met with now and then, but they are not usually very common. 

 In Gyathus (figs. 391 ® and 391 ') we have a form resembling a little bird's-nest 



