CHAPTER IV 



HOW TO STUDY FUNGI 



The primary object of this book is to enable the reader to determine 

 correctly the names of the different fungi met with growing in our 

 woods and fields. As in most other instances, there is a wrong as 

 well as a right way of doing this ; unfortunately, as a rule, perhaps 

 without exception so far as my experience goes, the wrong way 

 is the one that commends itself to beginners. What is the name 

 of this fungus ? is the question invariably asked by a beginner, 

 and it is a perfectly fair and natural question to ask, but unless the 

 would-be mycologist is, by judicious management, led by degrees 

 to find out names by a methodical process, the information gained 

 will consist of a mere string of names, some wrong, and some right, 

 but lacking any real knowledge of fungi. 



In almost every instance the toadstools first appeal to the 

 beginner, partly on account of their conspicuousness and frequent 

 occurrence, and mostly because the student does not know of the 

 existence of any other groups of fungi. 



On turning to the chapter dealing with the Hymenomycetes or 

 gill-bearing fungi, it will be found that they are divided into four 

 primary, or principal groups, entirely depending on the colour of 

 the mature spores (the spores of all toadstools or agarics are 

 colourless when young). Consequently, the first thing is to deter- 

 mine the colour of the ripe spores. If the spores are persistently 

 white or colourless when ripe, the fungus belongs to the group called 

 Leucosporeae ; if pinkish or salmon-colour, to the Rhodosporeae ; 

 if brown or iron-rust colour, to the Ochrosporese ; if purple-black 

 or black, to the Melanosporeae. It is the ripe spores that give the 

 colour to the gills, hence the colour of the latter, when the fungus 

 is mature, suggests the colour of the spores, and the primary group 

 to which the fungus belongs. There are, however, pitfalls in this 

 connection. In the white-spored group more especially, the gill 

 substance, apart from the spores, often becomes yellow or grey 

 when mature, or even from the earliest stage of growth. The colour 

 is never so pronounced as to suggest any of the other groups, yet 

 it is not absolutely white, although the spores may be colourless. 

 Again, in the pink-spored group the gills remain for a long time 

 practically white, and a pink-spored fungus thus might easily be 



D 33 



