12 MICROBES, FERMENTS, AND MOULDS, 
the support or covering of the spores, which are fixed 
on the radiating lamelle that may be seen on in- 
verting the umbrella (Figs. 2 and 3). This umbrella 
or floral peduncle is the only part of the plant which 
appears above the soil, or the organic substances on 
which the fungus grows. 
But the really essential part of the plant is that 
Wig. 2.—Section of one ofthelamella § Fig. 3.—Spores of the Aymenium, greatly 
of the umbrella of Agaricus e: magnified, and resting on their supports 
a, b, spores of the hymenium or basides, a. 
(slightly magnified). : 
which does not appear on the surface; namely, the 
white filaments or hyphe which creep along the soil, 
the manure, or whatever supplies the nutritive matter, 
and which represent at once the root, the stem, and the . 
branches of the plant; this part is termed the myceliwm. 
We shall presently see that many of the lower fungi 
are without the organ we have called the umbrella, and 
which botanists term the hymenium or organ of repro- 
duction, and consequently consist only of mycelium. 
