iio8 Home Nature-Study Course. 



rooms are called " buttons." Find by your own investigation the relation 

 between the buttons and the threads. Can you see the gills in the 

 button? Why? What becomes of the veil over the gills as the mush- 

 rooms grow large? 



(ii). Do you know the difference between mushrooms and toad- 

 stools? Do you know the common edible mushroom when you see it? 

 What characters separate this from the poisonous species? W^hat is 

 the " death cup," as it is called which covers the base of the stem of the 

 most common poisonous species? 



Facts for Teachers. — There are many kinds of mushrooms, and while the pupils 

 are studying the shape of the cap it will be well to place the diagrams of the dif- 

 ferent forms on the blackboard, as this may lead to hunting for specimens of 

 the various forms. The size and shape of the cap are important characters in 

 determining the species. Its color, markings and texture should also be care- 

 fully observed. 



In the common edible species, Agaricus campestris, the cap is at first rounded 

 and then convex ; its surface is at lirst smooth, looking soft and silky, but as the 

 plant becomes old it is often broken up in triangular scales. These scales are 

 often quite dark brown, although the color of the cap in common varieties is 

 usually white or pale brown. 



Some mushrocms, among them the Boleti bear their spores in little tubes which 

 make the under side of the cap look porous, like minute honeycomb except 

 that the cells are not so even. Those most commonly seen bear spores on narrow 

 plates which extend from center to rim on the lower side of the cap, like the ribs 

 of an umbrella but far more numerous. These plates are called gills. They are 

 not developed for aid in breathing but to give more surface for spore growth. 

 The gille are likely to be whitish or rosy when the mushroom is young, but as 

 soon as the spores begin to develop they naturally take on more or less the color of 

 the spores. The color of the spores separates the gill-bearing fungi (the Agarics) 

 into five classes : The white spored, the ochre spored, the rosy spored, the brown 

 spored, and the black spored. The common edible species has brown-black spores. 



Before the teacher discusses spores with the class the pupils should make spore 

 prints as directed in observation No. 7 of the lesson. Such prints are very 

 pretty and the pupils can see that the spore dust falls from each side of each 

 gill, as the impression of the gill is left as a depression between the rows of spores. 

 If the pupils can have the opportunity to examine these spores through a micro- 

 scope the lesson will mean much more. Each spore, however minute, under favor- 

 able conditions can start a new growth of the mushroom threads or mycelium, 

 as they are called. And yet a spore is not a seed — for a seed is far more complex 

 in form and origin — a spore is simply a cell developed on a minute tip branch of a 

 club-shaped cell that stands at right angles to the surface of the gill. When 

 ripe the spore cell breaks off but has within it the power to start new growth. 

 These cells on the gills can be seen only when a gill is cut into sections and 

 mounted on a glass side and examined with a high power microscope — not a 

 legitimate part of a nature-study lesson. The shape of the gills should be care- 

 fully observed and it should be noted whether in relation to the stem they are 

 free, adnate or decurrent. 



