AGARICS 87 



cerus ape " constantly raised by the inhabitants of his 

 district from a watery infusion of said plants poured 

 upon the ground." The truth of these statements 

 has been denied by authorities, and individual exper- 

 iment will only tend to discredit their trustworthiness. 

 In general the mushroom or toadstool absolutely re- 

 fuses to be " coaxed or cajoled." The mycelium of all 

 is practically identical; but species such as the Co- 

 prinus, for instance, which are perhaps found growing 

 naturally in company with the Campestris, and whose 

 spawn is similarly transplanted to the artificial en- 

 vironment, will show no sign of reappearance, while 

 its fellow may literally crowd the bed. 



The " fairy-ring " mushroom grows year after year 

 upon our lawn, because its mycelium is continually 

 present, simply threading its way outwardly, inch by 

 inch, in the congenial surrounding soil. Instances 

 are reported of the occasional successful establishment 

 of this mushroom in new quarters by the transfer of a 

 clod of earth threaded with mycelium taken from the 

 "fairy-ring" to another lawn, in which the immediate 

 soil conditions happened to be harmonious, and this 

 method of actual transference of the spawn might oc- 

 casionally be effectual. But the writer, in his limited 

 number of experiments, has never yet been able to 



propagate a mushroom by a transfer of 

 Not to be the spores to soil where the conditions 

 humored would appear to be exactly suitable. 



On a certain lawn, for instance, every 

 year I obtain a number of the Coprinus comatus (Plate 

 16). Upon another lawn, apparently exactly similar 

 as to soil conditions, I transfer the melting mushroom 



