54

CHAPTER VIII.

VARIATIONS OP FUNGT.

Real hybrids do not probably exist amongst Fungi, and if thisbe true, one source of perplexity will be removed which rendersthe task of discrimination of species difficult to the phseno-gamic botanist. In organisms which depend so much uponoutward circumstances, considerable differences will indeedoccur, but most of these, after a little study and experience,are easily estimated.

The same species will for instance present variations in sizeand colour, in the condition of the outer surface, in the formof the stem and pileus, in the breadth and attachment ofthe gills; and yet, amidst all, certain general features will bepreserved which preclude much difficulty, though they makeit extremely hard to draw up such characters as shall be ge-nerally applicable. Notwithstanding all the experience whichthe great Swedish Fungologist has had in the study of thefleshy Fungi, and clever as his characters confessedly are, andsatisfactory taken as a whole, individual specimens constantlyoccur, from local modifications, which cannot he comprisedwithin their limits. Nay, even generic and sectional charac-ters are sometimes at fault. It is, for instance, frequently amatter of difficulty to distinguish an Agaric of the subgenus