DEPARTMENT REPORTS 49 



this is done while the specimens are yet fresh. We have succeeded in 

 securing good spore-prints in the usual manner by carefully removing 

 the j)ileus and placing it gills down on a piece of gummed paper and 

 covering the whole with a bell jar. The process usually requires from 

 twelve to twenty-four hours. White paper is used for all specimens hav- 

 ing colored spores, and black paper for those having white or colorless 

 spores. The moisture of the fungus is usually sufficient to soften the 

 gum on the paper so that the spores are held when dry. The spore prints 

 are also accompanied with drawings of a vertical section of the fungus, 

 thereby showing the width of the gills and their relation to the stipe, 

 besides other features of the specimen which often determines its generic 

 position. Notes are also taken of odor, taste, colors, etc., of the specimen 

 when fresh. 



''Our collections are arranged in interchangeable pasteboard trays, one 

 inch deep and varying in size from four and one-half by six to nine by 

 twelve inches. These are temporarih^ placed in wooden trays which will 

 just contain four of the largest pasteboard trays. We have been able 

 to collect during every month of the year and have secured man^^ speci- 

 mens of such genera as Polyporus, Polystictus, Fomes, Stereum, Corticium, 

 Feniophora, and allied genera, since the first snow came. Some species 

 of gill fungi also persist throughout the winter ready to take advantage 

 of every warm day. Among the most persistent are those belonging to 

 the following genera: Lenzites, Schizophylum, Pleurotus, Collybia, and 

 Mycena in the white spored, and Crepidotus in the yellow spored sections. 

 The most tenacious species are those that grow on wood. Not a few 

 species belonging to the Hydnete and Tremellineae are also available to 

 the winter collector. Among some of the notable specimens which were 

 secured last season may be mentioned a plant of Lj^coperdon giganteum 

 weighing, when fresh, seven pounds ten ounces and measuring forty-five 

 inches in circumference, while compared with this are some specimens of 

 Geaster minimus, a star puff ball, weighing only a few grains. The 

 moist, warm weather of 1896 also brought out some very large specimens 

 of gill fungi. Among the attractive species we have a large tray of the 

 bright red Polyporus cinnabarinus, brought from Lewiston, Montmorency 

 county, by Dr. Beal when on" Institute work. This grows on canoe or 

 paper birch. 



"We have between two hundred and fifty and three hundred species of 

 Basidiomycetes, representing ten of the thirteen families of this group 

 and covering nearly seventy genera. The indentification of this material 

 is the most serious problem that we have encountered. This is partly 

 due to the meager literature on the subject in the United States. The 

 North American Fungi of Ellis and Everhart have aided us much, and 

 we are also especially indebted to Prof. Chas. H. Peck of the New York 

 state museum for the identification of some of this material. The reports 

 of this botanist have been of much assistance to us. 



"That this subject presents an economic as well as a scientific side is 

 becoming more clearly recognized. While mushroom eating has been 

 practiced for many years, yet thepersons indulging in this semi-hazardous 

 practice almost invariably confine themselves to the ascomj'cetous morel 

 or. the common mushroom, Agaracus campestris. All others are called 

 'toadstools' and considered poisonous. But the progressive fungus eater 

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