CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Introduction 413 



Mushrooms and toadstools 414 



The mushroom plant 414 



Life history and development 414 



Structure of a mushroom 417 



Spore production and lilieration 417 



Other tj'pes of mushrooms 419 



The ecology of mushrooms 420 



Dissemination 420 



Gravity 421 



Air 421 



Heat 421 



Light 422 



Substratum 422 



Water 422 



Parasites and saprophytes 423 



Myeorrhizas 424 



Animal relations 425 



Diseases 427 



Fairy rings 427 



Luminosity 427 



Mushroom growing 429 



Food value of mushrooms 430 



Poisonous properties of mushrooms 430 



Collecting ^\■ild mushrooms 431 



The piepaiation of mushrooms for the table 433 



The classitication of mushrooms 435 



Use of the key 436 



Key to genera of gill fungi 437 



Descriptions of species 440 



Eeferenees 554 



Index to 555 



