THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



14.-) 



ting into the eye. Thus the beHef of the children that the 

 ''smoke" from puffbahs will make one blind may have some 

 basis in fact. If puffball spores will stop the flow of blood, 

 however, the fact is worth noting. We regret that certain war- 

 like Europeans were not thoroughly fumigated with puffball 

 smoke early last summer. 



Abundant Mushroom Spores. — It is reported that a 

 vigorous specimen of the field mushroom can produce ten 

 thousand million spores. This number is so vast that it can 

 scarcely be appreciated, but the behavior of another species that 

 recently came under our observation helps to give an idea of the 

 immense number of spores produced. A student brought in 

 twO' specimens of the oyster mushroom {Plciirotus ostrcatus) 

 growing on a water-soaked piece of wood. Neither specimen 

 was more than four inches across, but shortly after being placed 

 in a specimen case they began to shed spores and in a short 

 time had covered three shelves each three feet long and a foot 

 wide, with a coat of spores. Printed papers, lying on the 

 shelves, were so deeply covered that the print was invisible. 

 The precariousness of the mushroom's hold on existence, how- 

 ever, may be realized when the abundance of its spores is con- 

 trasted with the number of plants that manage to grow. The 

 conditions for getting started are so rigorous that probably not 

 one spore in hundreds of millions produces a plant that sur- 

 vives to maturity. The flowering plants wath, at best, a few 

 dozens or hundreds of seeds, have arrived at a much better 

 solution of the problem of survival. 



Cercidophyllum Leaves.— The ordinary bud is essen- 

 tially an undeveloped stem with its appendages. In spring, this 

 bud throws off its bud-scales, if it has any, the embryo stem 

 lengthens and the leaves appear in their places. Then, in most 

 of our plants, the stem rests whether cold weather has come 

 or not. New bud scales are formed about the tender tip, within 



