326 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI 



Agaric type to be met with constantly in the tropics belong to 

 such genera as Marasmius, Schizophyllum, Lentinus, and the 

 almost woody Zenzites. As we approach the cold polar regions, 

 fleshy Fungi gradually disappear in the face of frost and snow. 



If we accept the number of gill-bearing Fungi as 5200 

 species, we shall find that those genera in which they are 

 tough and elastic, rather than brittle and fleshy, contain about 

 800 of that number, and all of these have white spores. So 

 that not more than one-seventh of the total number of gill- 

 bearing Fungi can be regarded, generally, as capable of support- 

 ing a tropical climate. Then, again, of this number of 800 a 

 certain proportion will be found in temperate regions, not less 

 than 320 of this total being recorded, so as to leave only 480 

 as exclusively tropical or subtropical amongst the Tenaces 

 genera of Agaricini. But to these must be added 550 white- 

 spored species, of the fleshy kind, that have at some time 

 or other been recorded for some tropical locality, including all 

 those which may have been found at a great elevation, and 

 consequently in a temperate region; and, finally, 450 species 

 with coloured spores; making a total of 1480 species 

 which have been found in tropical or subtropical countries. 

 It must, however, be remembered that of these 1000 species 

 of Agarics, of the more fleshy kind, which have been found in 

 the tropics, a great many of them are really species which 

 belong to a temperate zone, and it would be difficult to 

 estimate how many of them have been found only at a con- 

 siderable elevation, as on the slopes of the Himalayas and the 

 Andes. Whilst a proportionately large number of species of 

 Zepiota have been found in warm countries, as in Ceylon, it is 

 remarkable that of Cortinarius, Bussula, and Zaetarius, which 

 number some 626 species, only 12 have been met with in 

 tropical regions. 



It may fairly be estimated that not less than 4000, but 

 possibly more, species of Agaricini have been recorded in 

 temperate climates. By far the largest number of these 

 belong, either exclusively or conjointly, to Europe and North 

 America. Of these 2800 belong to Europe, many of them 

 extending into the United States, whilst 505 are found in the 

 United States which do not occur in Europe, which leaves only 



