258 INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY 
to the stalk beneath by means of a layer of hyphe (the veil). 
In some species, when the veil breaks away from the pileus, 
it forms a ring, or annulus, about the stalk. 
The underside of the pileus is made up of plate-like growths 
(gills) which radiate from the stalk. Some of the hyphie 
which compose the gills extend from the surface of the gill, 
Fic, 200. A poisonous fungus (Amanita muscaria) 
From A. H. R. Buller’s ‘' Researches on Fungi” 
and upon this extended tip (the basidium, or stalk) four 
(rarely two) branches are formed. Upon the tip of each 
branch a spore (hasidivspore) is formed (fig. 201). When the 
spores fall upon moist, warm, nutrient material, they produce 
anew mycelium. If the pileus of a ripe mushroom is cut from 
the stalk and placed, with the gills downward, upon a piece of 
ordinary white or blank paper, after a few hours a spore print 
composed of thousands of spores will be made. 
