BEPOBT OF THE STATE BOTANIST. 138 



hours drop enough spores on the paper to show their color, on 

 removing the cap. If the spores are white, and we may infer 

 that they are if the mature gills are white, white paper will not 

 be so good for disclosing their color, as paper of some dark color. 

 Black paper is sometimes used when it is suspected that the 

 s]X)res are white. Or the cap may be placed on a piece of glass 

 and then the glass may be placed over a white or a colored 

 background, according to circumstances. 



Fresh, sound, fully-developed specimens should be selected to 

 furnish the spores. If the cap is thin it is well to invert a goblet 

 or similar vessel over it to prevent it from drying and to exclude 

 currents of air. 



Having ascertained the color of the spores the subjoined table 

 will show in which section the species belongs. 



Spores brown, purplish-brown or black Melanosporaj. 



Spores ochraceous, bro wnish-ochraceous or rusty-ochra- 



ceous Ochrosporre. 



Spores rosy or pinkish RhodosporiB. 



Spores white, whitish or pale yellow Leucosporae. 



Melanosporae. 



By some botanists the brown and purplish-brown-spored spe- 

 cies are grouped in one section, and the black-spored species in 

 another ; but both are united in one section in Sylloge Fungorum 

 and this is sufficiently simple for our purpose. Our edible spe- 

 cies of this section are included in two genera, Agaricus and 

 Coprinus. 



Agaricus L. 



The genus Agaricus originally included nearly all the species 

 that now compose the family Agaricinea?, but it has been divided 

 and subdivided until now it includes only such brown-spored 

 species as have free gills and a stem with a collar. 



There are several edible species in the genus, and, so far as I 

 know, it contains no dangerous species. The edible species are 

 closely related to each other, and in all here noticed the gills 

 have a pink color in young or middle age, but become dark- 

 brown or blackish-brown in mature age. There is no simpler 

 way of expressing the distinctive specific features than by an 

 analytical table. The species may be arranged in two groups, 



