An important character to be observed in fungi is the presence of a volva, or matrix, at the base of the stem (present in figs. 7 and 8, absent in figs. 11 and 12, Poisonous Sheet), and in the annulus, or ring, round the stem towards the top (present in figs. 1 and 7, absent in figs. 14 and 15, Poisonous Sheet). In the determination of species a great deal depends, too, upon the colour of the spores, or seeds. These are readily obtained by removing the stalk of the species to be examined, and placing the top gills lowermost on a piece of glass. In a few hours the spores will be deposited in a thick dust, and will vary (according to the species) from pure white to pink, yellow, red, brown, purple, or jet black. The gills often take their colours from the spores. It is a very great mistake to imagine that the “Sudden Mushroom” grows in a single night. The growth of mushrooms takes a considerable time—often many weeks. The young fungi exist just beneath or upon the surface of the earth in a compressed and narrowed compass. It is during this period that all the cells are formed, and the mushroom itself fashioned; but, being in a squeezed and concentrated form, it is commonly overlooked. On the advent of a wet or humid night, the cells forming the fungus are expanded and stretched out, and the mushroom is consequently thrust considerably above the surface of the pasture; but, although it is much larger in size, it is no heavier, neither has the substance itself considerably increased. Mushrooms can be artificially propagated from the seeds or spores, but not, generally, during the first season of setting. I have frequently grown the fragile and deliquescent species common on manure from the seeds; but, even when the spawn is once formed, it is often many weeks before the little heads are developed into the true figure of the parents, even in the inky, fugitive and deliquescent species. _Coprinus atramentarius_ can be readily grown from spores; if planted about rotten wood in the autumn, the fungi will appear in the late spring, and give two crops a year till the soil is exhausted. I have exhibited a cultivated variety of this species at the meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society.