a piece of black jDajDer when the spores are suspected of being 

 white. Or it may be placed on a piece of glass, and after the 

 spores have been dropj^ed and the cap removed, the glass may be 

 placed over a white or a black backgronnd, as the circumstances 

 may require. To prevent too rapid drying of the cap, and to 

 shut out currents of air, a goblet or similar vessel luay be inverted 

 over the cap while it is dropping its spores. 



Having ascertained the color of the spores, the following table 

 will show in which section the species belong: 



SECTIONS OF AGARICINE^. 



Spores brown, purplish-brown or black, Melanosporae. 



Spores ochraceous or rusty-ochraceous, Ochrosporae. 



Spores rosy or pinkish, Rhodosporae. 



Spores white, whitish or pale yellow, Leucosporae. 



Our edible species of the first section, Melanosporae, are found 

 in three genera — Agaricus, Ilypholoma and Coprinns. In the 

 genus Agaricus, the gills are not attached to the stem; the stem, 

 near its top, is surrounded by a meinbranous ring or collar, and 

 the spores, in our edible species, are brown. 



In the genus Hyplioloma, the gills are attached to the stem; 

 the stem has no collar, and in the single edible species the spores 

 are purplish-brown. 



In the genus Coprinus, the gills, when matiu-e, dissolve into 

 an inky fluid, and in our edible species the stem has no collar at 

 all, or only an evanescent one, and the spores are black, or nearly 

 so. Because of the melting of the gills into a black fluid, these 

 plants are called ''inky fungi." As in the case of pufl-balls, they 

 are fit for food only in the young or immature state, and as they 

 mature rapidly, great promptness is necessary if we would utilize 

 them. 



In the early days of mycology nearly all fungi having gills 

 were included in the genus Agaricus. At present, however, it is 

 limited to those species that have brown spores, free gills and a 

 stem bearing a ring or collar. These characters are found in the 

 common mushroom whose botanical name is Agaricus campester. 

 (This is commonly written Agaricus campestris, but the more 

 classical and more grammatical form is used in Saccardo's 

 Sylloge, and it is adopted here.) There are several edible species 

 belonging to this genus, and indeed no dangerously poisonous 

 species is known in it. These species are very closely related to 

 each other, and perhaps there is no simpler way of expressing 

 their distinctive characters than by an analytical table. They 

 may be arranged in two groups depending on their place of 



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