CLASSIFICATION 319 



NOTES ON THE GENERA 



Chitonia 

 This is not an indigenous genus, the single species met with in this 

 country Leing found in the Aroid house, Kew Gardens, having been 

 introduced along with exotic plants. Distinguished among black- 

 spored genera by the presence of a well-developed volva at the base 

 of the stem, and the free gills. 



Agaricus 



This genus includes the common mushroom, Agaricus campestris. 

 The cap is fleshy and the stem stout. The prominent features are 

 free gills, and a ring round the stem. Bright colours are mostly 

 absent, white or dingy brown predominate. In some species the 

 cap is scaly. As in the common mushroom, the ffesh of the cap and 

 stem often change from white to reddish brown when cut. In some 

 species the flesh changes to a blood-red colour when cut or bruised. 

 Several species are included amongst the best of edible fungi. All 

 grow on the ground, many in open pastures, but some are only met 

 with in woods. 



Agaricus agrees structurally with the genus Lcpiota in the 

 Leucosporeae. 



Pilosace.e 



The fungi belonging to this genus are fleshy, and superficially 

 resemble members of the genus Agaricus, from which they are at 

 once distinguished by the absence of a ring on the stem. 



Stropharia 



Usually medium-sized fungi, with a fairly fleshy cap, differing 

 from Hypholoma in having a permanent, well-formed ring on the 

 stem. Differing from Agaricus in having the gills attached to the 

 stem, that is, either adnate or adnexed. The cap is often viscid, 

 and sometimes ornamented with scales, which often disappear at an 

 early period of development. In some species the cap and stem 

 are of a bluish green or verdigris colour. The species usually 

 grow on the ground or on dung. 



Stropharia agrees in structure with Armillaria in the Leucosporeae, 

 with Plioliota in the Ochrosporese. 



Anellaria 

 The only genus in the Melanosporea, having a ring present on 

 the stem in all the species. There is no tendency to deliquesce, a 

 point that separates Panceolus from those species of Coprinus 

 having the stem furnished with a ring. The cap is always smooth 

 and even. The gills are dark grey, and \'ariegated with the black 



