Some Mushrooms found in Canada. 161 



Fungi are divided into two classes ; Sporif era in 

 which the spores, which correspond to the seeds in 

 higher plants, are naked, and Sporidifera in which the 

 spores are enclosed in cells or cysts. The class Spori- 

 fera is divided into four cohorts; Hymenomycetes, 

 Gasteromycetes, Coniomycetes and Hyphomycetes. 



In Hymenomycetes the hymenium or spore surface 

 is always exposed in the mature plant as in the agaric. 



In Gasteromycetes the hymenium is always enclosed 

 within a covering which bursts at maturity, as in puff 

 balls. 



In Coniomycetes there is no hymenium. The 

 spores are produced on the ends of inconspicuous 

 threads, free or enclosed in a bottle-like receptacle, as 

 in rusts, smuts, &c. 



In Hyphomycetes the spores are produced on con- 

 spicuous threads as in moulds, &c. 



The Sporidifera are in two cohorts, Physomycetes 

 and Ascomycetes, of which I shall have occasion to 

 speak only of the latter, in which the spores are pro- 

 duced in asci formed from the fertile cells of 

 a hymenium. 



The Hymenomycetes contain by far the greatest 

 number of large and conspicuous fungi, which are 

 divided into six orders. 



Agaricini — Gill bearing. 



Polyporei — Tube bearing. 



Hydnei — Spine bearing. 



Auricularini — Le ath ery . 



'Clavaria — Club-bearing. 



Tremellini — Gelatinous fungi. 



The Agaricini are divided into five series according 

 to the color of the spores. The names of these series 

 differ with the different authors, but the colors of the 

 spores are white-salmon or flesh color — rusty or 

 tawny — brownish, purple or brown — and black, and 

 may be determined by allowing a plant to lie with its 

 spore surface in contact with a paper until a sufficient 

 number of spores have been deposited to show the 

 color. 



