SOME TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING FUNGI 15 



of fruit, or when the end of growth of the fungus is at hand, owing 

 to the dying of the plant on which it is growing. Another form of 

 condensated hyphae, becoming covered with a blackish crust or 

 cortex, and forming long, branched strands as thick as an ordinary 

 knitting-needle, are not imcommon, and are termed rhizomorphs. 

 These bodies travel underground, and here and there produce fruit 

 bodies. Such rhizomorphs are in reality only very much elongated 

 sclerotia. 



Reproductive portions 



The reproductive portion is commonly considered as representing 

 the entire fungus, as in the case of the common mushroom, whereas 

 in reality it only represents the fruiting portion, the vegetative 

 part being left in the ground. The mushroom or other fungus, 

 as we commonly see it, being practically the equivalent of an 

 apple, plum, or other fruit of a flowering plant. The general bulk 

 of the fungus fruit has received various names : sporophore, or the 

 portion whose function is to produce the spores, being the most 

 comprehensive. In the fungi, spores are produced in two totally 

 difterent ways. In one large group the spores are produced on the 

 outside of specialized cells termed basidia (to be defined later) ; 

 to this class belong all the toadstools, puff balls, bracket-fungi, etc., 

 and in such cases the fungus fruit is called a sporophore. In another 

 large group of fungi, including the morels, cup- fungi, etc., tlie spores 

 are produced inside a large specialized cell called an ascus. All such 

 fruit bodies are called ascophores. In the puftball family the fruit 

 body is usually termed the peridium. 



We will next take the terms used in describing the various parts 

 of a toadstool or agaric, selecting one showing practically all the 

 parts present in one of the most highly developed forms. 



In the young, unexpanded stage 

 If we examine Fig. 5 (Plate A), which represents a slice or section 

 through a young, unexpanded agaric, we observe that the \\'hole 

 structure is enclosed in an unbroken membrane, e, called the 

 universal veil. The use of this membrane is to protect the agaric 

 in its youngest condition. In many agarics the universal veil is 

 entirely absent. As the agaric increases in size, the universal veil, 

 which does not continue to grow, becomes ruptured, as shown in 

 Fig. I (Plate A), where e is the lower portion of the universal veil, 

 surrounding the base of the stem as a sheath, and now called the 

 volva. Tlie upper portion of the universal veil is usually carried 

 up by the cap of the agaric, and is torn into patches as the cap 

 expands, as shown in Fig. i (Plate A). These loose patches or 

 warts can easily be rubbed off the surface of the cap without 

 breaking its surface, and must not be confounded with true scales 

 formed from the skin of the cap. If we return to Fig. 5 (Plate A), 



