SOME COMMON MUSHROOMS AND HOW TO KNOW THEM 



53 



MUTINUS 



In the genus Mutinus the receptacle or stalk is cellular or spongy, 

 simple, elongated, cylindric tapering, with the gleba-bearing portion 

 at the apex. The species of Mutinus are very similar in general form 

 and color. 



MUTINUS CANINUS. DOG STINKHORN 



In this plant the stipe is hollow, perforate or imperforate, fusiform, white or 

 reddish ; spore-bearing portion of flesh is colored, sharply defined, cellular 

 structure not uniform ; 

 e. g., the cells or minute 

 chambers composing the 

 stem are larger than 

 those of the gleba-bear- 

 ing portion. 



This species is com- 

 mon and appears i n 

 summer and autumn, 

 occurring on the ground 

 in woods. Its bright red 

 color is conspicuous 

 among the greens and 

 browns of the woods as 

 well as its odor, which 

 though disagreeable is 

 not as offensive a s 

 Ithyphallm impudicus. 



LYCOPERDACEAE 

 (PUFFBALLS) 



The Lycoperdaceae 

 include the puffballs 

 and earth stars. They 

 are more or less ball 

 shaped, sometimes 

 with a thickened base, 

 sessile or indefinitely 

 stipitate and when 

 mature filled with a 

 dusty mass consist- 

 ing of spores and fine 

 cobwebby filaments 

 known as capillitium. 

 In addition to the 

 puffball type this 

 family contains some 

 very queer and strange fungi, which present great variation in shape, 



Figure 45. — Ithyphallus impudicus 



structure, and color. 



LYCOPERDON 



Species of the genus Lycoperdon are small puffballs with a some- 

 what thickened base and fibrous rooting mycelium. The covering or 

 peridium consists of two layers. The outer layer, the cortex, breaks 

 up into small, soft scales, spines, warts, or granules, which may soon 

 disappear; the inner, the true peridium, is smooth, thin, and mem- 

 branaceous, and opens by an apical mouth. When young the interior 



