Botany. 49 



It is planned to continue these experiments in a small way and 

 extend them as far as possible with the facilities now at our disposal 

 to other species closely related to the common mushroom. 



STUDIES OF THE HIGHER FUNGI. 

 The study of the higher fungi which has been one of the special 

 features of the work of the Botanical Division has been continued 

 with the result that considerable additions have been made in the 

 way of illustrations and notes for monographic work on some of the 

 more important genera which it is hoped may be prepared for publica- 

 tion sometime in the future. The studies serve for the present a very 

 valuable purpose in giving us the basis for supplying information to a 

 large number of correspondents who write for aid in determination 

 of species and for information as to the edible or non-edible character 

 of these plants, and concerning the disease of fruit, shade and forest 

 trees. 



RESEARCH WORK. 



Considerable attention is given to resea,rch work on problems of a 

 more scientific nature which serve one way or another as the basis of 

 applied science, for the instruction of our constituents and for the 

 general advancement of knowledge. 



1. One of these problems has been the study of the embryology and 

 development of Agaricus campestris, the common mushroom. This 

 study has been completed. It comprises the determination of the 

 origin and differentiation of the different parts of the plant in the 

 embryo stage from the simple mass of undifferentiated tissue at the 

 time the minute fruit bodies first appear on the strands of mycelium. 

 The study has been made with sections in paraffin which have been 

 prepared and stained in accordance with the best methods. Photo- 

 micrographs have been made of'the different stages of development. 

 The study will soon be prepared for publication, either as a bulletin 

 or as an article in some scientific periodical. 



2. Some progress has been made in the investigations started for 

 the purpose of determining whether the substance of the fleshy fungi 

 possess any food value for the higher plants after decay. The experi- 

 ments thus far have been conducted with the common mushroom, 

 Agaricus campestris, which has been employed as the sole source of 

 food for corn, beans, peas and buckwheat. These preliminary ex- 

 periments show that during the early stages of decay the mushroom 

 exercises a distinct poisonous effect on the seedlings, but after de- 

 composition is far advanced the plants recover from the injuries if 



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