THE FUNGI. 163 



some the gills are thin and sharp. In others they are 

 thick and blunt. Draw each different type found, show- 

 ing view of pileus from below. Notice and describe the 

 color of the gills in each different specimen. 



5. Cutting the stipes close to the pileus, allow different 

 kinds of well-matured Toadstools to rest, gills downward, 

 for some time on sheets of paper. The spores will fall 

 out in abundance. Compare them as to color. The cul- 

 tivated Mushroom, Agaricus campestris, has dark purple 

 spores. Forms with white or light-colored spores are in 

 most cases poisonous. Examine the different kinds of 

 spores under high power. 



6. Cut the stipes of different specimens transversely. 

 Notice and record whether the stipe is solid or hollow ; 

 whether it turns dark after being cut ; whether a juice 

 exudes, and, if one does, what its color is. Forms having 

 a juice, except those having a red juice, are believed to be 

 poisonous. 



7. Cut vertically through a specimen that has both 

 volva and annulus so as to show a section through the 

 entire Toadstool from the base of the stipe to the top of 

 the pileus. Draw. 



8. Make longitudinal microscopic sections of the stipe. 

 For this purpose the material must be hardened by treat- 

 ing pieces not more than half an inch square and quarter 

 of an inch thick with chromic acid for about 24 hours; 

 wash out the acid in water and keep the specimens a day 

 successively in 50, 75, and 90 per cent alcohol. Hold 

 the specimen between two pieces of pith when cutting 

 sections. Examine the sections in dilute glycerine under 

 both low and high powers, and determine that they are 

 made up of interwoven filaments or hyphse. Treat a 

 section with Schultze's solution, which stains normal 

 cellulose blue or violet, and fungous cellulose brown. 

 Is it composed of normal or fungous cellulose ? 



