40 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURlSi 



neath the cap serve the important purpose of 

 affording surface for the development of 

 spore-bearing cells (basidia) known collect- 

 ively as the hymenium. The cap or pilous 

 is sometimes styled the hymenophore be- 

 cause of its bearing- the hymenium. The 

 spores shed from the basidia are of different 

 sizes, shapes and colors, and afford import- 

 ant features for the determination of species. 

 For instance, the family agaricaceae has 

 been divided into five series, viz., leucos- 

 porae, rhodosporae, etc., according to the 



(i) Agaricus Campestris, or Meadow 

 Mushroom — This is the best known of all 

 our mushrooms and the one usually culti- 

 vated artificially. Fig. 1990 presents agroup 

 in different stages of development. The 

 second specimen from the left is one in the 

 young or button stage. There is no volva or 

 universal veil surrounding it, as illustrated in 

 Fig. 1988; but there is a partial veil connect- 

 ing the cap with the stem, and leaving when 

 ruptured by the growth of the plant a ring 

 or remnants of a ring upon the stem. The 



^t!;mm. 



^...^^^^mm 



mm 



Fig. 1990. Agaricus Campestris. 



{From CoviUe, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



color of the spores, whether white, pink, 

 brown, purple, or black. The shape of the 

 cap and the gills and their relation to the 

 stem or stipe, the shape and position of the 

 ring, the presence in some form or other of 

 one or both of the veils referred to, or their 

 entire absence afford important distinctions 

 by which species may be determined. Stand- 

 ing at the head of the family Agaricaceae, 

 the very aristocrat ot the whole mushroom 

 race, is the genus amanita, to which belong 

 our most poisonous varieties. I shall re- 

 serve the discussion of these for the next 

 article, and shall proceed to describe some 

 edible species belonging to this family found 

 within the college grounds, or in the neigh- 

 borhood of Whitby. 



cap when fully expanded is from two to 

 three and a half inches in diameter and 

 varies in color from creamy white to light 

 brown or tawny. The gills are unequal in 

 length and are pink when first revealed, 

 afterwards changing to brown, purple brown, 

 and almost black. The stem is solid and 

 generally shorter than the horizontal diam- 

 eter of the cup, and about equal in thickness 

 throughout. The spores are brown and may 

 be obtained by placing a mature specimen 

 gills downward on a piece of white paper, 

 care being taken to cover it with a tumbler 

 or bowl to exclude draughts of air. We 

 cannot shake the spores out of this mush- 

 room, and have them appear in the form of 

 dust, as in the case of the puff ball. If it is 



