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Coprinus atramentarius.
Photographed by C. G. Lloyd.

There is a very small white, scaly mushroom, never more than an inch across the cap, and with a stem hardly two inches high, that has the distinction of possessing the strongest smell of all the membrane fungi (Hymenomycetes). It is called the narcotic Coprinus, C. narcoticus, and it derives its name from its odor. It is very fragile and grows on heaps of manure.

DURATION.

There is another Coprinus, the radiating Coprinus, C. radiatus, so called from the radiating folds on the cap, that may carry off the honor of being the shortest-lived of all the membrane fungi. Stevenson says “it withers up with a breath.” It is often overlooked, as it perishes after sunrise. It grows in troops, and is perhaps the most tender of all mushrooms.

The genus Marasmius, belonging to the white spored Agarics, has the power of reviving under moisture after withering, so it may represent a genus that endures longest. None of the fleshy fungi have long lives.

USES.

Besides the uses of fungi as scavengers of creation, there are some which have a commercial

value and yield an article called “amadou.” This is a French word, used for a sort of tinder or touch-wood, an inflammable substance which is prepared from a fungus,1 Boletus igniarius, and grows upon the cherry, ash and other trees. It is made by steeping it in a strong solution of saltpetre and cutting it in small pieces. It is also called German tinder. Thomé says that Boletus laricis and Polyporus fomentarius yield the “amadou” of commerce. Then, again, the birch Polyporus, P. betulinus, is used for razor strops. We need not say anything on the uses of fungi as articles of food. This subject has been exhausted by many able mycologists, and, excepting the mere mention of some mushrooms that are edible, the authors have abstained from this part of the subject.

HABITAT.

It is interesting to observe where different mushrooms love to dwell. Some are always found on roadsides, as if seeking the notice of passers-by. These are the Clitocybes and Stropharia, and many of the cup-fungi, while the Boleti take shelter in clay banks and hide in

every cranny and nook that they can find. Russulas are seen in open woods, rising out of the earth, also the Lactarius, which seems to like the shade of trees. The Cortinarius also prefers their shelter. The Coprinus loves the pastures and fields, near houses and barns, and dwells in groups upon the lawns. The Hypholoma grows in clusters on the stumps of trees. Marasmius is found among dead twigs and leaves. The white Amanitas flourish in woods and open ground. There are some, like Pleurotus, that grow in trunks of trees, and make their way through openings in the bark. Every dead tree or branch in the forest is crowded with all species of Polyporus, while carpets, damp cellars, plaster walls and sawdust are favorite abodes of many fungi.

STRUCTURE AND GROWTH.

Mushrooms consist wholly of cells. These cells do not contain either starch or the green coloring-matter, called chlorophyll, which exists in other plants. They are either parasites or scavengers, and sometimes both. The food of fungi must form a part of some animal or plant. When they commence to grow it is by the division

of cells, not laterally, but in one direction, upward. As the mushroom grows the stem lengthens, the cap expands and bursts the veil that surrounds it, and gradually gains its perfect shape.

Every mushroom has a spore-bearing layer of cells, which is called the hymenium. This hymenium is composed of a number of swollen, club-shaped cells, called basidia, and close to them, side by side, are sterile, elongated cells, named paraphyses. In the family called Hymenomycetes there are mixed with these, and closely packed together, one-celled sterile structures named cystidia.

The basidia are called mother-cells because they produce the spores.

There is one great group of fungi called Basidiomycetes, so named from having their stalked spores produced on basidia.

The basidia are formed on the end of threadlike branched bodies which grow at the apex, and are called hyphæ. On top of the basidia are minute stalk-like branches, called sterigmata (singular sterigma), and each branch carries a naked spore. They are usually four in number. This group of Basidiomycetes is divided into (1) Stomach fungi (Gasteromycetes),

(2) Spore sac fungi (Ascomycetes), and (3) Membrane fungi (Hymenomycetes).

MYCELIUM.

The Mycelium is commonly called the spawn of mushrooms.

It is the vegetative part of the fungus, and is composed of minute, cylindrical, thread-like branching bodies called hyphæ. When we wish to cultivate mushrooms we plant the spawn not the spores. The thread-like branches permeate the earth or whatever the mushroom grows upon. The color of the mycelium is generally white, but it may also be yellow or red. Its structural details are only visible through a microscope.

Every fungus does not bear the spores exposed upon the cap nor underneath it. The first group of Gasteromycetes, or “Stomach fungi,” as Professor Peck has called them in his work on “Mushrooms and Their Uses,” have the spore-bearing surface enclosed in a sac-like envelope in the interior of the plant. The genus Lycoperdon belongs to this group, and it contains the puff-balls so common in this country.

In the second group, Ascomycetes, or “Spore sac fungi,” the spores are produced in delicate sacs called asci. The fruit-bearing part is often cup-shaped, disc-like, or club-shaped, thicker at the top or covered with irregular swellings and depressions like the human brain.

The Morels and Helvellas belong to this group. One often meets with mushrooms of the former genus in the spring, and they are striking and interesting looking fungi. There are many of both genera that are edible. They will be described in detail later.

Botanists have classified Agarics by means of the color of the spores, and it is the only sure way of determining to what class they belong. We propose in this work also to enumerate the mushrooms according to the color of the pileus or cap, and give a list, with a description of each, after this arrangement. This, of course, is merely superficial, but may interest and attract a beginner in the study of fungi. This list will be placed at the end of the book.

The descriptions will be preceded by a classification according to color of spores, some hints to students, and aids to learning which have been found useful to others.

It is appalling to a beginner when he first

reads the long list of names of classes, genera, and species, as the latter are so closely allied in resemblance. One has not always the time nor inclination to condense facts for himself, nor to collect