18 ORDERS OF FUNGI. 



1-esembling the pile of velvet, the spores 

 are attached by means of little processes, and 

 generally in fours, though occasionally the 

 number is either less or greater.'* Observa- 

 tion of the parts of a mushroom, or any agaric 

 fungus, will readily explain the meaning of this 

 quotation, and convey a true notion of a fungus 

 in its highest condition. As may be easily 

 conceived of such a multitude of cells, some 

 are barren, while the others are fertile. More- 

 over, formations have been noticed in them 

 which have had attributed to them the per- 

 formance of the offices of anthers. 



Lindley and other eminent botanists are of 

 opinion that fungi might be broken up regu- 

 larly into orders, founded on a knowledge of 

 these peculiarities of structure. 



1. When the hymenium (which is a dimi- 

 nutive of v/xT^t/, humeri^ skin or membrane,) is 

 naked, they might be called hymeno-mycetes ; 

 the term mycetes being derived from the 

 Greek word yi.vKr]Qy {muhes,) a fungus. Such 

 are all the agarics, or mushroom-tribes. Their 

 spores are set in fours, on little processes called 

 sporophores, or spore-bearers. 



2. When the hymenium is enclosed in a case, 

 or peridium, the appropriate name is gastero' 



