140 CLAVIS AaARICINOUUM. 



the hymenopliorum. See remarks under TricJwlovia, Lejmta, and 

 Paxillus. 



I. Leucospori, Wldte-spored Agarics (Plate C). — Without doubt 

 the species bearing- white spores are much higher in type than the plants 

 producing coloured spores. Most of the former are firm, and many 

 persistent, whilst as we approach the black-spored Agarics, through 

 the pink, brown, and purple series, there is a greater tendency to 

 deliquesce till vve reach the small, ephemeral species of Coprini, whose 

 entire lives endure but one hour, and whose whole structure may be 

 destroyed by a breath. The spores of the Leucospori are mostly oval 

 in shape, sometimes nearly round (in Pleurotiis they are usually elon- 

 gated ovals), generally very regular in shape, but sometimes spinulose 

 (showing an affinity to Russida and other genera). The spores vary in 

 size ; the Leucospori producing the largest as well as the smallest 

 known spores ; as a rule they are small (and thus opposed to the 

 black-spored groups, where, as a rule, they are large), generally white, 

 but sometimes dingy, or with a suggestion of yellow, showing an 

 affinity to CauthareUus, etc., or pink, and pointing to Lentinus. It 

 is worthy of note that no other Fungus is analogous with the species 

 of the " ringed " section of Amanita ; it stands quite alone in pos- 

 sessing a volva and I'ing. It is also remarkable that, as a rule, none 

 of the Leucospori grow on dung or in rank places, whilst in the darker 

 and black-spored groups these habitats are the rule. 



II. Hyporhodii, Pink-spored Agarics (Plate CI.). — There is not one 

 quarter so many Agarics bearing pink or salmon-coloured as white spores. 

 The size of tlie spores varies greatly. A few are very small, others 

 equally large (see Plate CI.), whilst the majority are remarkably irre- 

 gular in shape, resembling the fragments of granite seen in the roads. 

 Some of the species are edible, as in CUtopiliis (analogous with the 

 white-spored edible species of Clitocybe), whilst others are poisonous, 

 as in Eidoloina, reminding us of such dangerous species of Tricho- 

 loma as A. sulfureus. Bull., etc. 



In this section blank places for unrepresented subgenera become 

 apparent. Were the study better prosecuted, and the Agarics from 

 all the world known, most, if not all, these species would probably be 

 filled in. The genus Pluteus occupies the only space unrepresented 

 amongst the Leucospori, Plate C, but it is exceedingly probable that 

 white-spored Agarics exist with gills perfectly f^-ee from the stem, and 



