MUSHROOMS.


ANTIQUITY OF FUNGI.

Fungi have existed from early geological ages. They flourished in the
Carboniferous period, when the enormous beds of coal were formed, a
space of time that occupied many millions of years. Bessey says that the
oldest known member of the order of membrane fungi, Hymenomycetes, was
called by the name of “Polyporites Bowmanii.” During the Tertiary period
members of the genera now known under the names of Lenzites, Polyporus,
and Hydnum were all in existence. It is interesting to know that even
before the Tertiary period the undergrowth consisted of ferns and fleshy
fungi. What a time of delight for the botanist! But there were no human
beings in those days to roam amongst that luxuriant undergrowth, and
only the fossil remains in the deposits of coal and peat are left to
tell of their former existence.


MANNER OF GROWTH.

Fungi are either solitary, grow in clusters, in groups, or in rings and
arcs of circles.

The species called the Fairy mushroom, Marasmius oreades, is the most
familiar of all those that grow in rings. Besides this there is the