214 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The substance of a mushroom takes the narae/esA though it is 

 quite unlike animal flesh in texture and appearance. Most mush- 

 rooms have an expanded part called the cap botanically known as 

 the pileus. This is generally supported on a stem, but in the 

 absence of a stem the cap is sessile. It varies much in shape in 

 different species and even in the same species in different stages 

 of development. In some mushrooms thin vertical plates or 

 membranes radiate from the stem to the margin of the cap, or 

 in the absence of a stem, from the point of attachment of the cap 

 to its free margin. These are called lamellae or gills. Shorter 

 ones intervene toward the margin of the cap to fill the spaces 

 that would otherwise be left vacant. The gills are attached by 

 their upper edge to the lower surface of the cap and often by. 

 their inner extremity to the stem. They are adnate when 

 attached to the stem by the whole width of their inner extremity 

 adnexed, when attached by a part of their width only, decurrent y 

 when they run down on the stem, gradually tapering to a point, 

 and/>^ when not attached to the stem. Sometimes their lower 

 edge is notched or excavated at or near the stem, which fact is 

 designated by the words emarginate or sinuate. 



In some, the lower surface of the cap is full of small holes or 

 cells, called pores. These are so small in some species that they 

 are scarcely noticeable but generally they are easily visible 

 They stand like tubes in a vertical position, side by side, with the 

 openings or mouths downward. Theoretically they may be sup- 

 posed to be formed by numerous gills connected by frequent par- 

 titions or transverse membranes. 



In still another group of mushrooms the lower surface of the 

 cap has neither gills nor pores, but instead there are numerous 

 spine-like or awl-shaped projecting points called teeth. It is very 

 much as if closely placed gills had been deeply, regularly and 

 finely notched or gashed, but the teeth are not arranged in reg- 

 ular radiating rows, as they would be if actually formed in this 

 way. 



The upper surface of the cap is glabrous when it is smooth or 

 free from hairs, fibrils or scales ; even when it has no pits, ridges 

 or other inequalities ; silky when adorned with soft, close-pressed 

 fibrils ; fibrillose if these fibrils are harsher and looser ; floocose 



