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BASIDIOSPORE the form of fine white threads, spoken of as the  spawn. Upon  this,   little   knob-like Erotuberances arise and grow larger and irger until they have developed into the so-called mushrooms. The mushroom has a stalk-like portion, the stipe, and an expanded top called the pileus. From the under surface of the pileus hang the radiating plates or gills. The surface of the gills is composed of a layer of peculiar cells whose broad ends are directed outward. Each one of these cells is called a basidium, and the whole layer of basidia is spoken of as the hymemum. From their blunt free ends the basidia put out minute branches, each one of which bears a spore. These spores are known as basidiospores and are formed in great abundance. In addition to the mushrooms and toadstools with gills, there are others with numerous spores lined with the hymenial layer, very common among which are the bracket fungi. The puffballs differ from the other forms in maturing their spores before exposing them. When mature, the spores are liberated by the drying and bursting of the puffball. The name of the group comes from the characteristic basidia which form the hymenial layer. See FUNGI.

Basidiospore (ba-sidfi,-d-spdr) (in plants). The asexual spore of the Basidiomycetes.

Basidium (ba-s%d'%-um) (in plants). A peculiar cell of the Basidiomycetes which produces branches upon which the asexual spores are borne. See BASIDIOMYCETES.

Basket-Ball, a modern game, dating from the year 1892 and modelled somewhat after football, though the ball (a leather-covered rubber bladder, from 30 to 32 inches in circumference and weighing from 18 to 20 ounces), instead of being kicked, is thrown or batted with one or both hands (though it may not be run with) into the basket or hammock-net receptacle, suspended on each short side of the enclosed court or oblong-shaped field, which usually covers an area free from obstruction, of from 3,000 to 3,500 square feet. The players, five in number on each side, are assigned as center and right and left guards, and right and left forwards, the guards being opposed to forwards and the centers opposed to centers. The time-contest consists of two halves of twenty minutes each, with a rest of ten minutes between. The officials, four in number, are scorer, timekeeper, referee and umpire. The playing area is usually 50 by 70 feet. The game, which was first played by members of the Young Men's Christian Association, has since become very popular, not only in athletic clubs, but in schools and colleges of both sexes. For directions as to playing and for rules, etc., see Spalding's Basket Ball Guide (an annual).

Basketry, the art of making baskets, is an ancient and simple yet useful and beautiful form of industry. It was known to the ancient Britons and to the Chinese; and the basket work of many of the Indian tribes of America shows a high degree of skill. Ozier or willow twigs are most suited to basketry; and are cultivated for the purpose chiefly in France, England, Germany and the Netherlands. Ash and oak may also be employed; and bamboo is used in China and Japan. The Japanese very cleverly enclose porcelain in basket work.

Basketry is one of the most useful of the arts for the purposes of the modern school. In the schools for Indians it already receives great attention; and it may be employed in the grades in such a way as to connect the actions of the children with an interest in American history and industry and in Indian and primitive life. It is fortunate for this purpose that few tools are required for the making of baskets, which is done for the most part by hand.

Basques (basks), a curious race living on both sides of the Pyrenees. Their home forms what are called the Basque provinces of Spain, with a very small district in France. They are a farming people, though very much behind the times, using the same clumsy two-pronged wooden fork for a plow which was used by the Romans. The Basque language is unlike any other; and scholars cannot agree as to where those speaking the tongue come from or to what race they belong. Their bravery in the reconquest of Spain from the Moors won for them many political privileges, which they have kept up until very recent times. Their total number in Spain and France is about 610,000.

Bas-Reltef. See SCULPTURE.

Bass, common fishes related to the perch, but now placed in a different family group, which also includes the sun-fishes or pumpkin-seeds. There are several kinds of bass. The black bass is entirely an American fish, and is among the finest game fishes of the world. Like other members of the group they prepare nests and take great care of the eggs and young. Other common kinds, all valuable as food, are the rock bass, white bass, striped bass, brass bass, etc. The last three are grouped by naturalists into a separate family. Formerly, they were all united with the perches into the perch family.

Bast (in plants), a name applied originally to the inner fibrous layers of the bark Strictly, the term is applied to the phloem elements, such as are added year after year by the cambium of trees. Tnis cambium is said to add new wood on the inner side and new bark on the outside. This so-called bark, which is thus added, is the bast, which, therefore, consists of fibrous elements which lie just outside of the newest wood and within the layers of cork.

Bastiat, Frederick, a well-known French political economist, was born 