250 ON COMMENCING THE STUDY OF FUNGI. 



Having experimented thus far, the novice will learn the meaning 

 of the five groups into which the large genus Agaricus is divided in the 

 handbooks. These divisions correspond with the colour of the 

 spores. 



Let us return again to our type mushroom or toadstool, and look 

 once more at its composition. Some of them will have, as the mush- 

 room has not, a sheathing cup or membrane at the base of the stem, 

 and portions of the same membrane adhering like warts to the cap. 

 This will indicate the essential features of a sub-genus with a compara- 

 tively limited number of species. Others, deficient of this volva, will 

 have a ring round the stem, others again will have no ring. Then the 

 gills must also be observed. In some the end next the stem does not 

 touch the stem, in others it joins the stem, and in others it not only 

 joins, but is decurrent, or runs some distance down it. By observing 

 closely all these minute details, and many more, such as the smooth- 

 ness or roughness, or silkiness of tbe cap, whether dry or viscid, 

 elevated or depressed, you will at length be able, by dint of patience 

 and perseverance, to determine for yourselves with tolerable accuracy 

 the name of any Agaric which comes into your hands. Remember 

 that all the most apparently trivial and minute differences must be 

 sought out and made note of. 



The faculty of close and accurate observation is the great 

 desideratum of the fungus hunter, as of all students of Natural 

 History. Those who have learnt how to observe will make the most 

 rapid strides in Mycology. The most important of all faculties is that 

 of knowing how to see, and, to some extent also, how to taste and 

 smell. 



You will pardon me if I omit to dwell on the distinctions between 

 the genus Agaricus and the other genera closely allied to it, which 

 would occupy considerable time, and are best learnt in the field with 

 the aid of a knowing friend, and a little experience. 



Other large fungi you may have seen which have no gills on tho 

 under surface of their caps, but in place of them there are a number 

 of pinholes, which are the openings of tubes, the sides of which are 

 lined with the basidia. The fleshy sorts are called Boletus, the harder 

 woody kinds are Potyporus. If you cut one of them longitudinally 

 through the stem, if it has one, you will see and learn better than by 

 verbal explanation the difference between them. 



Take up yet another fungus, and in place of either gills or pores, 

 you will find teeth or spines, with the spore-bearing surface investing 

 them on the outside. Thus, through all the various orders and genera 

 of the higher fungi, you will find special modifications of structure, 

 which are set forth in tho written characters of the orders and genera 

 under which all the species you may meet with will find their allotted 

 place, and your progress will be very much indicated by the facility 

 with which you may place every new comer into its own especial 

 pigeon-hole. 



