392 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



The truth is that inviting any one to 

 become a mushroom-eater is tantamount 

 to. asking that person to become some- 

 what of a botanist, assuming, of course, 

 that one has no ulterior motives on his 

 or her Hte. 

 HOW we; may acquire this knowledge 



The preceding paragraphs are likely to 

 dampen the ardor of those who would 

 be pleased to learn how to collect and 

 select their own mushrooms, but who are 

 not sufficiently interested to go to the 

 length of acquiring the necessary knowl- 

 edge that will enable them to do this with 

 safety. Those who are so affected had 

 better do without mushrooms for the rest 

 of their lives, bearing in mind that, so 

 far, there is no "player attachment" to 

 the study of mushrooms. 



The most expeditious way of acquir- 

 ing this knowledge is to join a mushroom 

 club, if there happens to be such an or- 

 ganization in the city of one's residence. 

 Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, and 

 Detroit have, or have had, such clubs. 



MUSHROOMS ARE THE FRUIT OF FUNGI 



The removal of the bark from a rotting 

 tree-trunk or the disturbance of the dense 

 mat of decaying leaves on the floor of the 

 forest will reveal fine threads, usually 

 white in color. These threads, may be 

 loosely scattered and mould-like, com- 

 pacted into a dense meshwork of cords, 

 or spread out in flat sheets of the texture 

 of white kid leather. In old mines the 

 timbers are often festooned with long 

 streamers of this soft substance, which 

 to botanists is known as "mycelium," to 

 mushroom growers as "spawn." 



As every one who has cultivated these 

 plants knows, mushrooms grow from 

 these threads, not, however, as the apple 

 tree grows from its roots, but rather as the 

 apple grows on the tree, for the mycelium 

 is the olant, the mushroom the fruit. 



THE MARVELOUS SPORES 



Every mushroom species arises from a 

 mycelium of its own ; yet, to distinguish 

 between species, students rely exclusively 

 on the forms, colors, and microscopic 

 characters of the fruit-body (the mush- 

 room), the mycelium rarely presenting 

 characters sufficiently distinct for identi- 

 fication purposes. 



The forms of mushrooms are ex- 

 tremely varied, but all have in common 

 the ripening and liberation of the micro- 

 scopic spores ("seeds" or reproductive 

 bodies), by means of which the species 

 are enabled to spread over wide areas. 

 Some of the remarkable qualities of these 

 spores are told on pages 402 and 415. 



The mushroom collector can make 

 some interesting experiments with the 

 spores, as follows : 



If the expanded cap of the common 

 pasture mushroom {Agariciis canipester) 

 (see Plate I) be removed from its stem 

 and placed upon a sheet of white paper, 

 gill side downward, and left there under 

 cover of a finger-bowl for an hour or 

 two, there will be formed a beautiful de- 

 posit ("spore-print") of the microscopic, 

 purple-brown spores. 



If an Amanita (Plates II, V, IX, X, 

 XV, and XVI), a Lepiota (Plate XIV), 

 a Tricholoma (Plate VII), a Clitocybe 

 (Plate III), or an Armillaria (Plate VI) 

 be treated in the same way, a white spore- 

 print will result. With a Volvaria ( Plate 

 \') the deposit will be reddish or pink- 

 ish. Pholiotas (Plates VIII and XIII) 

 and Cortinarii (Plate VII) will throw 

 down spores of some shade of brownish 

 yellow, rusty brown, or cinnamon. Cop- 

 rinus (Plates VIII and XII) and Panse- 

 olus (Plate VIII) species precipitate 

 black or blackish spores. 



Similar experiments may be made with 

 other varieties. 



FUNGI IN nature's economy 



The Fungi, a class of plants of which 

 mushrooms are the most familiar exam- 

 ples, play an important role in their influ- 

 ence on the higher forms of life. As 

 parasites on plants, animals, and man, 

 they cause destruction on an almost in- 

 calculable scale. As scavengers and as 

 rock-disintegrators, on the other hand, 

 they accomplish work that is basic for 

 the very existence of all life. 



Rock is the raw material of the farmer's 

 soil ; but before the farmer can have this 

 soil it must first be made. How is it 

 made ? 



Violent weather changes — heat, cold, 

 rain, snow, and ice — start the breaking- 

 up process. Associated with these agen- 

 cies, the lichens begin their work. Dry, 

 crusty things, these plants produce an 



