1 1 o BASIDJOMYCE TES 



tivated mushrooms are propagated.'^ From this mycehum the 

 young mushrooms form as mere rounded masses, later taking on 

 the form of the buttons that are familiar to us in the ordinary 

 French canned mushrooms ; as they continue to emerge above 

 the surface of the soil they take on the umbrella-like form so 

 familiar to us, the spores mature on the hymenial surface which 

 covers the lamellae or so-called gills, soon after which the mush- 

 room decays, the latter process too frequently hastened through 

 the agency of larvae, which often attack certain species of mush- 

 rooms before they are mature. An ordinary mushroom consists 

 of two parts, the pileus or cap and the stalk or stipe (/*/. S. f. /). 

 In some genera a veil is present which in the young stage extends 

 across from the stipe to the margin of the pileus ; as the pileus 

 expands, the \eil ruptures and either remains as a collar or ring 

 {(.innuhis) about the stipe (/y. S. f. i , a) or hangs in tatters as a 

 fringe at the margin of the pileus. In the genus Co?'tiiiarius, 

 the veil is arachnoid like a delicate cobweb and, as the expansion 

 of the pileus takes place, collapses and leaves little trace of its 

 existence. In a number of genera there is also a \oh'a or uni\ ersal 

 veil which is attached at the base of the stipe and enve'opes the 

 entire mushroom when young (//. 8. f. 2.) As the mushroom 

 expands, this volva ruptures and is either carried up in a series 

 of tlocculent scales on the pileus as in the fly agaric {Amanita 

 jniiscaria) or a part or all of it remains as a permanent cup at the 

 base of the stipe as in the deadly Amaiiita phalloidcs {PI. S. f. i, b). 

 The characters on which genera and species are based in addition 

 to color and hal^it are the color of the spores, taste and odor, the 

 position of the lamellae, their shape and their character, the nature 

 of the stem and its relation to the context or flesh of the pileus and 

 various other characters that will be noted under the synopsis of 

 genera. 



The color of the spores is easily determined by cutting a pileus 



■^ The literature devoted to the cultivation of mushrooms is quite exten- 

 sive. Among the best works treating of the subject are : 



Falconer. Mushrooms; how to grow them. 1896. 



Robinson. ^^lushroom Culture; its Extension and Improvement. 1870. 



One of the Farmer's Bulletins (No. 53), published for gratuitous dis- 

 tribution by the Department of Agriculture at Washington, gives ample 

 directions for ordinary cultivation. 



