PREAMBLE. 13 



be overlooked in scanning a figure, but 

 these may be emphasized in the description. 

 Moreover, there are features which cannot 

 be represented in diagrammatic form, which 

 may nevertheless be very evident in the 

 fungus itself, such as viscidity, odour, and 

 taste. 



With one or two exceptions all the figures 

 are representations of fungi which possess 

 a stem and a pileus, or cap. However 

 much these may vary in size and form, 

 they are nevertheless present. In the 

 majority of instances the cap, which sur- 

 mounts the stem, is furnished on the under 

 surface with numerous parallel plates, or 

 gills, which radiate from the stem to the 

 margin of the cap. The Common Mushroom 

 is one of this type of gill-bearing fungi. 

 There are, however, a few illustrations of 

 species in which the gills are replaced by 

 pores, the whole under surface of the cap 

 being even, and punctured with very numer- 

 ous little holes, as if pricked with a pin, and 

 these are the pore-bearing fungi, of which 



