Mslitta Hanske, age 13, of Indianapolis, IA 

The fungi form a sizable family of the plant world  They are pale plants with none of the green chlorophyll which most plants use to make their food, For this reason, the fungi depend on soils rich in organic material, chemicals already prefabricated by other plants  We find them growing in soils containing molding leaves and rotting tree stumps  Others grow on living frees and plants  And some ors parasites living inside both plants and animals 

The granddaddy of the fungus plants is the giant puffball, a cousin of the mushrooms and toadstools  Smaller relatives are the yeasts and molds  Still smaller relatives are the single celled bacteria