52 MUSHEOOMS. 



PSATHYRA = friable. 



The cap is conical and soft, the margin at 

 first straight, and then pressed to the stem. 

 The plants are slender, fragile and moist. Gills 

 become purple. They grow on the ground, or 

 on trunks of trees. 



COPRINUS = dung. 



In this genus the spores are black. It has 

 two distinctive features : one, that the gills co- 

 here at first, and are not separated when young ; 

 and the other, that they dissolve into an inky 

 fluid. The gills are also scissile, that is, they 

 can be split, and are linear and swollen in the 

 middle. The plants last but a short time. Some 

 are edible. 



Order 2. POLYPOREI, OR TUBE-BEARING FUNGI. 



We now pass to the next order, the Poly- 

 porei. We will mention four genera : 



BOLETUS. 



The name is that of a fungus much prized 

 for its delicacy by the Romans, and is derived 



