ted
into cylindrical membranous sacs called asci, in each of which eight
spores are usually developed. The spores will be found of various
colors, shapes, and sizes, a fact which will be of great assistance to
the student in locating strange species and genera. In germination the
spores send out slender threads which Botanists call mycelium, but which
common readers know as spawn.

The method and place of spore development furnish a basis for the
classification of fungi. The best way to acquire a thorough knowledge of
both our edible and poisonous mushrooms is to study them in the light of
the primary characters employed in their classification and their
natural relation to each other.

There is a wide difference of opinion as to the classification of
mushrooms. Perhaps the most simple and satisfactory is that of Underwood
and Cook. They arrange them under six groups:

1. Basidiomycetes--those in which the spores or reproductive bodies
are naked or external as shown in illustration 2 on page 15.

2. Ascomycetes--those in which the spores are inclosed in sacs or
asci. These sacs are very clearly represented in illustration
Figure 4 on page 18. This will include the Morels, Pezizae,
Pyrenomycetes, Tuberaceae, Sphairiacei, etc.

3. Physcomycetes--including the Mucorini, Saprolegniaceae, and
Peronosporeae. Potato rot and downy mildew on grape vines belong
to this family.

4. Myxomycetes--Slime moulds.

5. Saccharomycetes--Yeast fungi.

6. Schizomycetes--are minute, unicellular Protophytes which reproduce
mainly by transverse fission.

CLASS, FUNGI--SUB-CLASS, BASIDIOMYCETES.

This class will include all gill-bearing fungi, Polyporus, Boletus,
Hydnum, etc.

Fungi of this class are divided into four natural groups:

1. Hymenomycetes.
2. Gasteromycetes.
3. Uredinae.
4. Ustilagineae.

GROUP 1--HYMENOMYCETES.

Under this group will be placed all fungi composed of membranes, fleshy,
woody, or gelatinous, whether growing on the ground or on wood. The
hymenium, or spore-bearing surface, is external at an early stage in the
life of the plant. The spores are borne on basidia as explained in
Figure 2, page 6. When the spores ripen they fall to the ground or are
carried by the wind to a host that presents all the conditions necessary
for germination; there they produce the mycelia or white thread-like
vines that one may have noticed in