THE AGARICINI. 



41 



ON THE STUDY OF THE AGARICINI. 



BY A. P. MORGAN, 



The wonderfully increasing interest in the study of Fungi is manifest 

 by the monthly publication in all our botanical periodicals, of discoveries 

 of new species and observations on their habits and growth. A vast 

 field of labor, not less extensive than that afforded by the Flowering 

 Plants, has just been entered upon by a multitude of workers possessing 

 every facility for exploration and observation, and favorably distributed 

 in all parts of this great country. The promise is good that in the next 

 decade we may present a true and accurate account of our mycologic 

 flora in systematic shape. 



I wish to confine my remarks in this paper to a much neglected, and, 

 perhaps, much feared portion of this great field of Fungi, namely, the 

 Agaricini of the Hymenomycetes. These rank in order as the highest of 

 the Fungi, and all are of conspicuous size ; their number can scarcely be 

 less than in Europe, and the native species must constitute more than a 

 third part of the whole. The single genus Agaricus comprises in 

 Europe more than 1,200 species ; these, with the added species of other 

 genera belonging to the order, make a total of over 1,800 species. Our 

 country is not less prolific of forms, and when the work is fairly done we 

 will count well on to 2,000 species of the Agaricini. The genus Agaricus 

 is the difficult one ; the others are readily separated from it. Lactarius 

 exudes a milky juice when broken ; Coprinus dissolves into an inky 

 fluid ; Marasmius is tough and subcoriaceous, etc., etc. 



I am in constant receipt of specimens of Agarics from friends and 

 correspondents, and yet in most cases I am aware that I am able to make 

 biit a poor return for the trouble and expense they have incurred. To be 

 sure a few species can be determined, as we may recognize a flowering 

 plant, the Amanitas, the Lepiotas, and many of the subcoriaceous Agari- 

 cini, for example ; but the great multitude of fleshy, putrescent species 

 must have something else accompanying the specimen. And right here 

 I wish to quote from Dr. Cooke's Grevillea, Vol. 12, p. 14: "Unfortu- 

 nately, collectors and correspondents will not be persuaded to send draw- 

 ings and details with their fleshy fungi, although for many years the 

 Rev. M. J. Berkeley was continually urging it upon them. On account 

 of this, not more than one-tenth of the Agaricini and Boleti sent here 

 can be accurately determined." 



The least that can be expected with an Agaric is to catch its spores, 

 and ascertain their color, then fold the paper containing them and inclose 

 it with the dried specimen ; this assigns it at once to one of the five 

 series of suborders into which the genus is divided. If the specimen in 

 its fresh and perfect state can be sketched in colors, so much the better. 



