KEY TO THE GENERA OF BASIDIOMYCETES 



OF VERMONT.* up^y,^ 



BO"- 



CLASS BASIDIOMYCETES. 



Fungi with spores borne usually in 4s on basidia ; basidia arranged 

 side by side, often with sterile bodies intermixed, in a palisade layer, 

 called the hymenium. Two sub-classes, ... I. and II. 



I. Sub-class Hymenomycetes. Hymenium exposed to the air 

 before the spores mature, as in toadstools. Six Families, . 1-6 



II. Sub-class Gasteromycetes. Hymenium not exposed to the air 

 until after the spores mature, as in puff-balls. Four Families, 7-10 



HYMENOMYCETES. 



A. Hymeniu7n figu7-ate — i. e., not a simple plane surface, . I-3 



1. Hymenium constituting the surface layer of radiating lamellae, 

 inferior in position — i. e., on the side of the fructification towards the 

 centre of the earth .... Fam. i. AGARICACEAE 



2. Hymenium lining pores or tubes, inferior. 



Fam. 2. POLYPORACEAE 



3. Hymenium covering teeth or other protruberances varied in 

 form, inferior Fam. 3. HYDNACEAE 



B. Hymenium evett or very nearly so ... . 4-6 



4. Hymenium inferior, often horizontal in position ; fructification 

 subcoriaceous .... Fam. 4. THELEPHORACEAE 



5. Hymenium amphigenous — i. e., on all sides of the fructification ; 

 fructification somewhat fleshy . . Fam. 5. CLAVARIACEAE 



6. Hymenium superior — i. e., forming the upper surface of the 

 fructification ; fructification gelatinous . Fam. 6. TREMELLACEAE 



♦ Arranged from the keys in Saccardo's Sylloge Fungorum by Prof. E. A. Burt, 

 Ph. D., for the use of his classes in Mycology in Middlebury College. The genera of 

 species found up to Sept. 21, 1899, are included. 



