different species, very frequently pure-wliite, but presenting
also pink, various tints of brown, from yellowish and rufous to
dark-bistre, purple-black, and finally black.
As tliese colours are accompanied by peculiar differences of
habit, they afford a ready test for grouping the species. The
greater part of these plants are of rapid growth, and of a
soft, cellular substance. They differ greatly in stature, colour,
and outward appearance ; some are perfectly smooth, others
densely slimy, while many are clothed with silky or downy
hairs and bristles, disposed in various ways, and adding greatly
to their beauty. Some species have the brightest colours of
tlie rainbow, combined with the most elegant form and delicacy,
while others arc coarse, dull in colour, and unsightly ;
few are at all persistent, and many when decayed pass into a
loathsome, offensive mass. A particular group, common in
hotbeds, is known by the whole pileus, almost before expansion,
dissolving into an ink-like fluid. The greater part of these
plants spring at once from the ground or other matrix without
any general covering ; but in a few of the more highly
organized, there is a general wrapper (volva), (Plate 3, fig. 4,)
which encloses the whole plant, bursting and leaving more or
less evident traces behind ; while in others the pileus is at first
clothed with fibres of greater or less delicacy, which either
vanish entirely as it expands, or leave traces behind upon the
disc, or at the margin, in which latter case it is called a veil
[cortina), (Plate 13, fig. 4). Sometimes a membrane is attached
to the stem, cither connected immediately with the
volva, or at first spread under the gills, which when more or
less persistent is called a ring [annulus), (Plate 3, fig. 6, 7).
The stem, though very frequently present, does not exist
universally. I t first becomes short and excentric, and then,
from being strictly lateral, vanishes altogether, so that the
pileus presents various forms, as fan-shaped, kidney-shaped,
semiorbieular {dimidiate), and occasionally becomes attached
by the surface of the pileus ; so that the gills are superior instead
of inferior, and the pileus is then said to be resupinate
(Plate 10, fig. 1).
The Gill-bearing Fungi are generally of a soft substance,
but they arc not all so. According to the density with which
the cells or threads of which they are composed are packed,
they present various degrees of hardness, till they assume
even a corky substance, and are more or less persistent. The
common fairy ring Champignon, Marasmius Oreades (Plate 14,
fig. 5), is a familiar example of the first departure from the
common Mushroom type, and in consequence of its less watery
character, it is easily preserved in a dry state for culinary purposes.
The Dædalea of the birch, Lenzites betulina (Plate 15,
fig. 3), a widely distributed species, gives a good example of
a still further hardening of the gills, while in that of the oak,
Dædalea quercina (Plate 19, fig. 5), the substance is as firm
as cork, or, in parts, as hard as wood.
There are a few Fungi in which the gills assume the form
of folds or veins, departing thus from the more common type.
The Charitarelle, for instance, Cantharellus cibarius, which is
such an ornament of our woods from its bright melon-like
colour and grateful odour, is a good example. The folds in
some species pass into mere veins, and in the very lowest the
fruit-bearing surface {hymenium) is all but even, thus paving
the way to a group which we shall have to speak of presently.
In a few species there is a gelatinous stratum either external
to the pileus or inserted in the midst of the general mass
of its tissue ; hut in general this element, which is so important
in one group, is hut slightly developed, and never constitutes
the whole or major part of the tissue.