MUSHROOMS. 199 



a lichen. The order Lichen has sometimes been included under one 

 genus called Lichen, and placod in the order Algce. 



Order Fungi, or mushrooms. 

 The 6th Order contains the Mushrooms^ or fungus plants ; these 

 never exhibit any appearance of green herbage ; they are generally 

 corky, fleshy, or mould-like, varying much in toriu and colour. Thi: 

 fruit of some is external, of others internal. They are often of very 

 quick grov/th and short duration. The genus Agaricus^ which con- 

 tains the conrmon eatable mushroom, has a convex, scaly, white 

 head, called a pileus ; this is supported on a stalk called a stipe. 

 On the under surface of the pileus, or cup, are seen many flesh-col- 

 oured membranes called gills. These gills, in the young state of tlie 

 mushroom, are concealed by a wrapper cahed a volva, which is con- 

 sidered as a kind of calyx. As the mushroom becomes older, the 

 volva bursts and remains upon the stipe, while the pileus, released 

 from its confinement, extends upwards and exhibits an uneven ap- 

 pearance upon its edge, caused by. its separation from the volva. 



Fig. 157 represents the most , 

 important parts of the mush- 

 room ; a, the gills running 

 from the stipe to the circum- 

 ference, under the pileus ; b, 

 a young mushroom, with the 

 pileus of a globular form, 

 and not separated from the 

 volva ; c, the volva, or wrap- 

 _ per, bursting and separating 



^^-^^H from the pileus so as to ex- 

 i^^ hibit the gills beneath; d, 

 part of the volva remaining 

 upon the stipe in a circular form, and called an annidus, or ring. 



"If the mushroom be left for a time on a plate of glass, a powder 

 will be found deposited ; this is the seed,* or organic germ. That 

 these are capable of germination, is evident to cultivators, who now 

 form mushroom beds, by strewing the decayed plants on prepared 

 beds of manure."t 



A species of the genus Agaricus is common in Italy, and much 

 valued for food; it is of a fine red or orange-colour; the ancient 

 Romans esteemed it as a great luxury. The genus Boletus contains 

 the touchwood, or spunk, which is sometimes used as tinder. The 

 Lycoperdon contains the puff-ball. 



The Cryptogamous plants are probably the least understood of 

 all the visible works of nature. Philosophers have asserted that 

 some of this race do not belong to the vegetable, but to the animal 

 kingdom ; having discovered insects in mushrooms, they say, like 

 the sponge and the corals, these should be classed among animal 

 productions. Few, however, at present, entertain this belief; and 

 the fact of their having been raised from sf'pd sprinkled on the earth, 

 proves them to be of vegetable growth, a curious field of inquiry 

 presents itself in the consideration ol ? .< difference betv/een animal 

 and vegetable hfe. This we shall hereatter partially examine; not, 

 however, expecting to decide upon this subject, for in our researches 



* Called sporules. t Nuttall. 



Order Mushrooms— Explain Fis:. 157— Mushrooms capable of germination— Differ- 

 ent genera— Opinions of some philosophers respecting tne Cryptogamous plants. 



