66 
a. Whole Fungus gelatinous, slimy (but maybe horny when dry). 
Tremellas (Tremellinae), and Jew’s Ears (Auriculariae). 
Fungi in form of an umbrella or shelf, with gills below. The 
Toadstools proper (Agaricineae). 
Fungi in form of an umbrella or shelf, with pores below, 
or of a flat surface with pores above. Pore-toadstools 
(Polyporeae). 
Fungi in form of an umbrella or shelf, with spines below. 
Spine-toadstools (Hydneae). 
Fungi in the form of a stag’s horn or little tree (Pages 50 and 51, 
First Series), which may be unbranched, or in the form of a 
sponge without a stalk (Page 49). Stag’s Horn Fungi 
(Clavarieae). 
Fungi of sponge-like texture, with the remains of the sheath in 
which they were at first enclosed at the bases (Pages 52 and 
54, First Series). The Stink-Horns (Phalloideae). 
More or less spherical forms, when mature consisting of a bag 
with or without a pore, full of powdery spores (Page 55, First 
Series). The Puff-Balls ( Lycoperdeae). 
Small Fungi in the form of a bird’s nest containing egg-like 
masses of spores (Page 54, First Series). Bird’s- Nest Fungi 
(Nidularieae). 
Dark slow-growing forms of solid woody texture which do not 
easily decay, usually on trees and stumps. The Candle- 
Snuff Fungi (Pyrenomycetes). 
Fungi in the form of a cup (Page 59), or of an irregular mass 
borne on a stalk (Pages 57 and 58). Cup-fungi and Morels 
(Discomycetes). 
Fungi in the form of a hollow cone (Page 49, First Series), or of 
flattened or irregular leathery masses usually growing on 
trees and stumps (Pages 44 to 48). The Thelephores 
(Thelephoreae). 
The above classification, though quite unscientific, may assist the 
reader in deciding to which of the main classes a given Fungus 
belongs. The last two classes will be found especially difficult to 
distinguish from one another, and here it may be said generally that 
where difficulty arises in deciding to which of two classes a Fungus 
belongs, it is well to work along both the lines indicated until some 
definite evidence of the plant’s true nature is forthcoming. 
Before taking up the sub-divisions of the main classes above 
indicated, a few notes on the more scientific classification of the 
larger Fungi may not be entirely out of place. 
The larger Fungi or Eumycetes as they are called, are divided 
into two main classes (the Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes) by the 
method in which their spores are produced. In the Ascomycetes 
four to eight spores are produced within each bag or cell called an 
Ascus. In the Basidiomycetes the spores are budded off on the 
outside of cells called Basidia. In the Ascomycetes it has been shown 
that the formation of the Ascus is in, at any rate, some cases 
preceded by cell fusion, which is to be regarded as a true sexual 
process. In the Basidiomycetes nothing of this kind has been 
observed. Of the sub-divisions of the Ascomycetes three only are here 
mentioned. The Discomycetes which bear Asci full of spores all 
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