GILL FUNGI 5 



cap. Ill many cases, this t^ill veil disapjiears completely. As the youiijj; caj) jiushes 

 up, it is sometimes covered with a iiiemhraiie. wliic h is hrnkeii by the lengthening 

 stem, and remains at the base of the latter as a cup or vulva. The volva mav persist, 

 or it may break into scales and linally disappear. 



The gill fungi are the only mushrooms certainly known to contain deadly 

 poisons. The fatally poisonous species are confined to the genus A in a n i t a, so that 

 if one learns the distinctive marks of A m a n i t a, he may feel safe from danger. A 

 few species, L e p i o t a m o r g a n i and (" 1 i t o c y b e ill u d e n s, are violently 

 emetic in tlieir action upon ccTtain pt'ople, but are not dangerousl\- poisonous. The 

 beginner w^ho avoids eating all mushrooms with white gills, a ring around 

 the stem, and a cup or scales at the bulb-like base of the stem will be in no 

 danger of fatal poisoning. Since the volva, especially when scaly, disappears 

 with maturity, and sometimes the ring also, care must be taken to apply 

 this rule to young plants. 



According to the color of the spores, the gill fungi are divided into five groups. 

 The spore color is best determined by means of a spore print, made by cutting off 

 the sten^ and placing the cap, gills downward, upon a sheet of white paper. As a 

 rule, the spore color may be safely inferred from the color of the gills, or it may 

 be found by means of the microscoi)e. though the latter is more or less misleading, 

 owing to the fact that the sjjores are seen by transmitted light. 



Key to the Spore Sections 



Paso 



1. Spores white, whitish or Aery dilutely colored White-spored Fungi 5 



2. Spores distinctlv colored, pinkish, yi'llow, brown. 



purple-brown or black 



a. Spores i)ink or salmon-colorrd Rose-spored Fungi 51 



b. Spores yellow to rust-colored Ocher-spored Fungi 59 



c. Spores jmrplish or purple-i)rown Purple-spored Fungi 72 



d. Spores l)lack-brown to blai'k Black-spored Fungi 79 



White-spored Gill Fungi Leucosporae 



Spores white, whitish, or very dilutely colored yellowish, pinkish or greenish; 

 colorless under the microscope. 



KEY TO Till-: (JEXEU.V 



1. Cap tleshy or hrm-tleshy, not leathery, corky or woody 

 a. Stem central or nearly so 



(1) (lills not vein-like, but thin, plate-like, 

 acute at edge 

 (a) Gills fleshy rather tlian waxy 



X. Stem readily separated from the cap 

 (x) Stem with cu\) or volva at base 



m. Stem with a ring also Amanita 6 



n. Stem without a ring Amanitopsis 11 



