Rapid Growth of Fungi

1895

The rapidity with which many, if not all, fungi grow baffles calculation. The great puffball, Lycoperdon giganteum, will grow as large as a peck measure in 48 hours, and 'specimens of Agaricus campestris have developed from the button — of the size of a pea — to a mushroom as large as a coffee saucer in a night. But this great increase is not actual growth. These species are many weeks forming under the surface of the ground. Their cells are small and closely packed. When the proper degrees of moisture and heat around this incipient fungus coincide, it rapidly absorbs moisture, and stimulated by the heat swells to its full size in a few hours. — Boston Transcript.


Sun and Tan

Some people "tan" in the sunshine because the chemical action of the light on the skin causes the deposit of a pigment in its substance. Tanning is a provision of nature to protect the true skin from the bad effects of too much light and heat.