llnshrooin {Agaricus Sp.) 



Material. — Mushrooms are usually abundant in past- 

 ure lots in the late summer and early fall. They fre- 

 quently grow in gardens. In greenhouses they may be 

 found at various times during the year. They may 

 often be obtained from gardeners who raise them for 

 the city trade. In case mushrooms cannot be obtained, 

 almost any of the common toadstools will do as well. 

 Get specimens showing as many different stages of 

 growth as possible. Both fresh and alcohohc material 

 will be used. The latter is prepared by hardening the 

 mushrooms in one per cent, chromic acid for a day, 

 washing off the superfluous acid in fresh water for two 

 or three minutes, then placing them for about twelve 

 hours in each of the following grades of alcohol — forty, 

 sixty, seventy-five, and ninety per cent. A part of the 

 alcoholic material may be examined entire and the rest 

 of it sectioned. Specimens to be sectioned should be cut 

 into pieces not more than a half-inch square before be- 

 ing placed in the chromic acid. 



Apparatus and reagents required : dissecting-needle, 

 bell-jar, watch-glass, compound microscope, lens, razor, 

 fifty per cent, glycerine, acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, 

 carmine, and Schulze's solution. 



Method of Examination^. — If the student have access 

 to living specimens growing naturally, let him study 

 their surroundings, the kind of soil upon which they 



