the mushroom grows, constitute the mycelium. This is com- 
monly known as “spawn.” 
The best way to acquire a knowledge of our edible fungi is to 
study them in the light of the primary characters employed in 
botanical classification, and in their natural relations to each 
other. The species will, therefore, be described and arranged in 
their respective classes, families and genera. It will be seen that 
they are all included in three great classes, whose names and dis- 
tinguishing characters may be stated in the following manner: 
GasTEROMYCETER.—Fungi whose spores are produced in the 
interior of the plant. Example, puff bails. 
DiscomycrTr£.—Fungi whose spores are produced in delicate 
membranous sacks on the upper or exterior surface of the cap. 
Example, morels. 
HymenomycretEm.—Fungi whose spores ate produced on the 
lower surface of the cap. Example, common mushroom. 
In this last class there are a few species in which no regular 
cap is developed. In these, the spores are produced on the ex- 
terior surface of upright, simple stem-like plants, or of the 
branches of upright bush-like plants, or on the upper surface of 
gelatinous or jelly-like irregularly expanded plants. None of 
the gelatinous plants will be described, and only two or three 
species of the other exceptional cases, all of which belong to the 
genus Clavaria. 
The spore-bearing surface or hymenium is generally recog- 
nizable, even to the naked eye, by its smooth, delivate, waxy 
appearance, which is quite unlike that of the sterile surfaces. In 
most of the cap-bearing mushrooms, the lower surface of the cap 
is furnished with special organs, on whose surfaces the spores are 
produced. These are in the form of gills, pores or spine-like 
teeth, and these furnish characters on which the three principal 
families of the Hymenomycetee are founded. These characters 
will be more fully elucidated in their proper place. 
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