34 
THE LARGER FUNGI 
Unless bulky or of unusual shape, or delicate and liable to be broken, when 
boxes or paper bags, whichever seem most suitable, may be used, the specimens 
should be put in regulation folders and labelled on the outside. These folders 
are made as illustrated in the diagrams (Figure 4), using cartridge paper, 
botanical mounting paper, or moderately stiff brown paper. For economical 
purposes, used firm newspaper wrappers, or the large brown envelopes in which 
journals are sent, may be opened up and turned inside out and made to serve 
as very efficient holders of various sizes. 
THE ESSENTIAL PARTS OF THE HIGHER FUNGI. 
It may be said that the two really essential parts of one of the higher fungi 
consist of the mycelial or fungus threads that permeate the substratum for the 
purpose of obtaining and in part storing up food supplies, and the hymenium 
that bears the structures necessary for reproduction. The former constitutes the 
vegetative stage of the fungus and the elements composing it are often little 
evident to the naked eye. The latter represents the reproductive portion, making 
use of the food-supplies already stored up by the vegetative phase to erect a 
specialised fruiting-bodv, or sporophore, designed to facilitate the dispersal of 
the reproductive elements or spores. The fruiting-bodv has usually a very definite 
architecture which, as it were, hall-marks the species and enables it to be recog- 
nised. It will be well to take a simple and common, but composite, example and 
consider it in detail. From such, the various departures in form can readily be 
understood. 
The accompanying diagram represents the main features to be seen in a large 
number of agarics, of which the common mushroom is the best-known example. 
It will be seen that a typical agaric consists of a pileus or cap, bearing on its 
under-side vertically descending thin lamellae or gills, supported by a stem which 
at its base is continuous with the mycelial threads traversing the substratum or 
source of food supply. 
The essential feature here is the hymenium which is spread over the surface of 
the gills. It bears special cells, the basidia, which project slightly from the 
surface. Each basidium has usually four little projecting microscopic stalks, 
Figure 5. 
