282 



Introduction to Botany. 



cap are com- 

 posed of multi- 

 cellular fila- 

 ments so closely 

 woven and 

 grown together 

 as to form a 

 false tissue (Fig. 

 145). On both 

 surfaces of the 

 gills minute 

 spores are borne 

 which become 

 projected to the 

 ground, as 

 shown by Obser- 

 vation 167. Or 

 in some cases 

 both cap and stem deliquesce, form- 

 ing a fluid mass which engulfs the 

 spores, and perhaps assists in their 

 germination. When the substratum 

 in which a toadstool is growing is 

 carefully dug away, it is found that 

 there are filamentous growths per- 

 meating it from which the above- 

 ground part of the Fungus has 

 sprung. It is the underground 

 Fig. 145. 



Agaricus camfestris or mushroom. D, mature plant with stalk bearing an e.x- 

 panded cap, from which gills are pendent. G, a cross section of some of the 

 gills, slightly magnified, and F, one of the gills in cross section more highly 

 magnified, showing the gill to be fringed on both surfaces with stalks bearing 

 spores. H, a more highly magnified detail of a portion of F, showing the 

 rounded spores. E, young mushrooms, to become like D, After SACHS. 



