SECTION A.
Cla.s.s I. Key to Gill-bearing Mushrooms (_Agarics_).
1. Plants fleshy, soon decaying, 2.
Plants leathery, woody, persistent, 12.
2. Juice milky, white, or colored, Lactarius.
Juice watery, 3.
3. Stem central, or nearly so, 4.
Stem lateral, eccentric or wanting, 11.
4. Spores white, 5.
Spores rosy, pink or salmon color, 15.
Spores yellowish-brown, ochre color, 17.
Spores dark brown, 21.
Spores black, 24.
5. With volva and ring, Amanita.
Volva and no ring, Amanita (sub-genus Amanitopsis).
Ring and no volva, 6.
No ring and no volva, 7.
6. Gills free, ring movable, pileus scaly, Lepiota.
Gills adnate, pileus generally smooth, Armillaria.
7. Gills thin, edge acute, 8.
Gills in the form of folds, obtuse edge, 10.
8. Gills decurrent or stem fleshy. c.l.i.tocybe.
Gills sinuate, notched behind, stem fleshy, Tricholoma.
Gills adnate, not decurrent, stem cartilaginous, Collybia.
Stem fleshy, cap often bright color, 9.
9. Plants rigid, gills even, cap bright, Russula.
Plants with waxy gills, Hygrophorus.
10. Gills decurrent, plant terrestrial, Cantharellus.
11. Spores white, Pleurotus.
Spores yellowish or brown, Crepidotus.
12. Gills serrated on their edges, stem central or lateral, Lentinus.
Gills entire, stem central, 13.
Stem lateral or wanting, 14.
13. Gills simple, pileus dry, soon withering, then reviving when moist, Marasmius.
14. Gills deeply splitting, with weak hairs, Schizophyllum.
Gills united by veins, plant corky, Lenzites.
15. Volva, no ring, Volvaria.
No volva, ring present, Annularia.
No volva, no ring, 16.
16. Gills free, rounded behind, cohering at first, Pluteus.
Gills adnate or sinuate, stem fleshy, soft, waxy, cap fleshy, margin incurved, Entoloma.
Gills decurrent, stem fleshy, c.l.i.topilis.
17. Ring continuous, pileus with scales, Pholiota.
Ring cobwebby or evanescent, not apparent in old specimens, 18.
Ring wanting, 19.
Stem with cartilaginous rind, 21.
18. Gills adnate, plants on the ground, Cortinarius.
19. Gills decurrent, stem fleshy, gills easily separating, Paxillus.
Gills not decurrent, stem fleshy, 20.
20. Pileus fibrillose, or silky, Inocybe.
Pileus smooth and sticky, Hebeloma.
21. Veil remaining attached to margin of pileus, often not seen in old specimens, Hypholoma.
Veil on stem as a ring, 22.
Margin of cap incurved when young, Naucoria.
22. Gills separate on the stem, Agaricus or Psalliota.
Gills united with stem, Stropharia.
Gills adnate or sinuate, 23.
23. Margin of pileus incurved when young, Psilocybe.
Margin of pileus always straight, Psathyra.
24. Pileus of normal form, 25.
25. Pileus fleshy, membranaceous or deliquescent, 26.
26. Gills deliquescent--inky fluid, Coprinus.
Gills not deliquescent--ring present, Annellaria.
Gills not decurrent--ring wanting, 27.
27. Pileus striate--plants small, Psathyrella.
Pileus not striate, stem fleshy, margin exceeding the gills, Panaeolus.
Cla.s.s II. Key to Pore-bearing Fungi (_Polyporei_).
1. Pores readily separating from cap, spores whitish or brownish, Boletus.