FUNGI. 311 
plants, preferring quiet quaker colours suitable to 
the dim secluded places which they usually affect, 
yet some of them depart widely from this sober- 
ness, and exhibit themselves in the most gaudy 
hues. Some species are of a brilliant scarlet 
colour; others of a bright orange. Many are 
yellow, while a few don the imperial purple. In 
short, they are to be found of every colour, from 
the purest white to the dingiest black, dark 
emerald or leaf-green alone excepted. Some are 
beautifully zoned with ~ iridescent convoluted 
circles, or broad stripes of different hues. Some 
shine as if sprinkled with mica ; others are smooth 
as velvet, and soft as kid-leather. Such is a rapid 
survey of the varied forms, colours, and qualities 
exhibited by these simple plants ; and surely it is 
sufficient to show us the vast amount of interest 
connected with them. 
Let us take a specimen of one of the most 
perfectly-formed and highly-developed fungi, the 
common shaggy mushroom for instance (Agaricus 
procerus, Fig. 29), which is also the most familiar 
example, and endeavour to point out the peculi- 
arities of its structure. Like all plants, it consists 
of two distinct parts, the organs of nutrition or 
vegetation, and the organs of reproduction ; the 
former bearing but a very small proportion in 
size to the latter. The organs of nutrition or 
