210 



Mh. Wohthington Smith, F.L.S., then made a few observations regai-d- 

 ing the necessity of attending to the colour of the spores in determining the 

 different species of Funguses. He said that unless the colour of the spores was 

 first ascertained, it was next to impossible for a beginner in this study to name a 

 fungus. After glancing at the salient points, of the white, pink, brown, purple, 

 and black spored groups, he referred to some of the allied genera noted for their 

 waxy, vesciculose or mUky structure, such as the genus Hygrophorus, Kussula, or 

 Lactarius, illustrating his remarks with coloui'ed diagrams of a variety of spores 

 magnified 20,000 diameters. To see the spores, he said, the stalks of the agarics 

 were to be detached, and the tops laid gills lowermost on a sheet of paper when 

 the spores would become detached and soon be deposited in a coat of coloured 

 dust upon the paper. The next thing to be attended to, he said, was the section 

 of the gills ; this he illustrated on the black board, showing that if the spores 

 were white and the gills ran down the stem the fungus belonged to one group, if 

 the spores were pink and the section remained the same, to another group; if red, 

 purple, or black, to others, provided the section of the gills remained the same ; 

 ihirdly, he said, by attending to the structure of the stem, whether ringed or 

 ringless, and to the top whether smooth, dry, or viscid, a genus of some 600 

 species might readily be reduced to a dozen or less plants to choose a name from. 



He then spoke of the size of some of these minute seeds or spores, and said 

 that in one species, the spores were so small as to require 200,000,000 placed side 

 by side to cover a square inch, and that the lai-gest he had ever measured were so 

 small as to requii-e 2,000,000 to cover the same space ; these seeds he said varied 

 in shape and colour in the most remarkable manner, some being round, others 

 oval or spindle-shaped, some pentagonal or very ii'regular and shapeless. Some 

 of these he said were dry, others viscid, some opaque, others transparent, some 

 smooth and plain, and others again elaborately sculptured and ornamented. 



He then briefly spoke of the varied habitats and qualities of different 

 funguses, saying how singular it was that certain species would only grow 

 in meadows, others in woods, some upon the debris of one tree, some upon that 

 of another ; some being harmless, and others poisonous ; but the most 

 wonderful consideration of all, he said, was that each sporule, each incon- 

 ceivably minute atom, possessed a spark of life, capable of reproducing its 

 parent, — this he had proved by setting the spores of some of the evanescent 

 species of Coprinvs upon dung, where they readily germinated, at first pro- 

 ducing a, floccose spawn and then reproducing the parent fungus (applause). 



[These remarks were admirably illustrated by coloured di-a wings of spores 

 on a very large scale.] 



An excellent paper was then read 



