MUSHROOMS. 21 



means the sort of fleshy fungus that is good to eat, and particu- 

 larly — to some people only — the common pasture kind. A 

 toadstool, on the other hand, means something poisonous, or at 

 least to be avoided. As a matter of fact, no distinction can be 

 made between the two terms, though the term toadstool is more 

 comprehensive, for it may be used to include the common pasture 

 mushroom and all other fungi whose form is in general the 

 same. Both terms are also loosely applied to other kinds, even 

 to such forms as Puff-balls and Stink-horns. 



If we look at a common mushroom of the pasture or the 

 market, we see that it may be easily divided into two parts, an 

 upright stalk, called the stipe, and a flat, expanded portion, the 

 cap or plleus. Attached to the under side of the cap are mem- 

 branous plates, the gills, or lamince, radiating from the top of 

 the stipe to the edge of the pileus. The upper part of the gills 

 is attached to the lower surface of the cap, and their lower edges, 

 which are usually very thin and rather sharp, hang free. In the 

 mushroom that we are examining there is a space between the 

 crowded inner ends of the gills and the top of the stem. In 

 other kinds of mushrooms we may find the same condition of 

 things, or it may be that the gills reach the stem and are attached 

 to it, or even run down upon it as ridges, which in some cases end 

 abruptly and in others are gradually reduced to mere lines. 

 Upon the gills are borne in countless numbers the spores — exceed- 

 ingly minute bodies, which, as it is their ofiRce to germinate and 

 grow into new mushroom plants, may be roughly compared to 

 seeds. The mushroom, in fact, as we see it, is nothing but a con- 

 trivance for the production and dissemination of the spores. 

 The arrangement of the gills gives an enormous spore-bearing 

 surface, whence the spores are carried by the Avind or by insects, 

 or drop to the ground below. If the cap of a fully grown mush- 

 room be cut from the stem and laid, gills downward, on paper 

 under a tumbler or other cover to keep draughts away, there will 

 be found on the paper after a few hours — sometimes in a very 

 short time — a layer of spores, making a negative print of the gills. 

 In the common mushroom this print Avill be of a dark brown — 

 almost a purple brown — the color, it will be noticed, of the gills at 

 maturity, for the gills usually take the color of the spores. 



Stem, cap, and gills are characteristic parts of most of the 

 fungi commonly called mushrooms or toadstools. There are 



