212 FOOTNOTES FROM 



the determination of their shapes, and to have moulded 

 many of them in imitation of the substances upon which 

 they are produced. 



Although fungi in general are sober, nun-like plants, 

 preferring quiet quaker colours suitable to the dim 

 secluded places which they usually affect, yet some of 

 them depart widely from this soberness, and exhibit 

 themselves in the most gaudy hues. Some species are 

 of a brilliant scarlet colour; others of a bright orange. 

 Many are yellow, while a few don the imperial purple. 

 In short, they are to be found of every colour, from the 

 purest white to the dingiest black, dark emerald or leaf- 

 green alone excepted. Some are beautifully zoned with 

 iridescent convoluted circles, or broad stripes of different 

 hues. Some shine as if sprinkled with mica ; others are 

 smooth as velvet, and soft as kid-leather. Such is a 

 rapid survey of the varied forms, colours, and qualities 

 exhibited by these simple plants ; and surely it is suffi- 

 cient to show us the vast amount of interest connected 

 with them. 



Let us take a specimen of one of the most perfectly- 

 formed and highly-developed fungi, the common shaggy 

 mushroom for instance (Agaricus procerus, Fig. 27), 

 which is also the most familiar example, and endeavour 

 to point out the peculiarities of its structure. Like all 

 plants, it consists of two distinct parts, the organs of 

 nutrition or vegetation, and the organs of reproduction ; 

 the former bearing but a very small proportion in size 

 to the latter. The organs of nutrition or vegetation con- 

 sist of greyish-white interlacing filaments, forming a 

 flocculent net-like tissue, and penetrating and ramifying 



