4 OUTLINES OF BRITISH FUNGOLOGY. 



difiererit species, very frequently pure-white, but presenting 

 also pink, various tints of brown, from yellowish and rufous to 

 dark-bistre, purple-black, and finally black. 



As these colours are accompanied by peculiar differences of 

 habit, they aftbrd a ready test for grouping the species. The 

 greater part of these plants are of rapid growth, and of a 

 soft, cellular substance. They differ greatly in stature, colour, 

 and outward appearance; some are perfectly smooth, others 

 densely slimy, while many are clothed Avith silky or downy 

 hairs and bristles, disposed in various ways, and adding greatly 

 to their beauty. Some species have the brightest colours of 

 the rainbow, combined with the most elegant form and deli- 

 cacy, while others are coarse, dull in colour, and unsightly; 

 few are at all persistent, and many when decayed pass into a 

 loathsome, oftensive mass. A particular group, common in 

 hotbeds, is known by the whole pileus, almost befoi'c expan- 

 sion, dissolving into an ink-like fluid. The greater part of these 

 plants spring at once from the ground or other matrix with- 

 out any general covering ; but in a few of the more highly 

 organized, there is a general wrapper {volva), (Plate 3, fig. 4,) 

 which encloses the \a hole plant, bursting and leaving more or 

 less evident traces behind ; while in others the pileus is at first 

 clothed with fibres of greater or less delicacy, which either 

 vanish entirely as it expands, or leave traces behind upon the 

 disc, or at the margin, in which latter case it is called a veil 

 [cortina), (Plate 12, fig. 4). Sometimes a membrane is at- 

 tached to the stem, cither connected immediately Avith the 

 volva, or at first spread under the gills, Avhich when more or 

 less persistent is called a ring {annulus), (Plate 3, fig. 6, 7). 



The stem, though very frequently present, does not exist 

 universally. It first becomes short and excentric, and then, 

 from being strictly lateral, vanishes altogether, so that the 



