32 
THE LARGER FUNGI 
the novice, surprising object. Tlie colours are most varied, the tints often vivid 
and beautiful, the combination of colours surprising in their harmony. The 
shapes are frequently graceful and artistic. 
Having chosen our first species, we set about describing it fully in the same 
way as are described in the systematic portion of this work the various species 
with which it deals. The cap, stem and gills will be measured, preferably in 
the metric system; the shades of colour on these parts will be described, if 
possible, by comparison .with some standard such as Ridgway’s “Color 
Standards and Color Nomenclature ’ ’ ; the shapes of the cap, gills and stem; 
the appearance of the surface of the cap (glutinous, smooth, warty, scaly, 
velvety, etc.); the presence or not of a skin or cuticle on it; the attachment, 
depth, closeness or otherwise, of the gills; evenness, serration or thickness of 
the edges of the gills; the appearance of the surface of the stem (smooth, 
sticky, mealy, fibril lose), hollowness or solidity of the stem; nature of a ring 
or volva, if present; features of the flesh of the cap and stem (opaque, or 
translucent, changing in colour when cut, etc.); rooting or otherwise; general 
Figure 3. — Print on black paper of the White Spores shed from the Gills of Amanita 
nwttmrht; showing the positions of the gills. 
texture of the plant, smell, and even taste, (with circumspection), and habitat 
should all be noted as succinctly and as exactly as possible. To get the colour 
of the spores in mass a spore print is very useful. To obtain this, place the 
cap over a sheet of white paper (unless the spores are white, when blank paper 
will show them up better) in such a way that the gills, or part of them, hang 
downwards so that as the spores drop from their edges and descend between 
tlie blades they will fall on to the paper before being blown away. A good 
way is to make a small hole in a round piece of paper a little larger than the 
pileus, pull the stem through this, and support the agaric in its natural position 
in an empty vaseline jar, or some such receptacle. Spores will c-ease to be shed 
when the fungus is drying up, and so it may be necessary to shield the prepara- 
tion from evaporation. The photograph (Figure .'!) shows a typical print of 
white spores on a black background. 
We are now in a position to dry our specimens. This must be done as rapidly 
as possible. The best means is by dry heat in a current' of air. This may often 
be achieved merely by leaving them well exposed in a dry room, especially when 
the sunlight can reach them. Many of mine are dried in this way. Still better 
is it to put them on top of a gas stove used for heating purposes, if this top 
becomes warm and aiir can percolate past them. The interior of a dry iwcubator 
is often effective. If the interior is moist, as from the evaporation from fluid 
cultures of bacteria, the fungi may not dry, but get' mushy. I often use the 
domestic hearth, the fungi being placed on sheets of cardboard close enough to 
