Why no spore print?

[Murray R. Falk]

My wife and I recently have been studying mushrooms as an adjunct to
our walks in the woods.  (We are young seniors,  just retired.)  One of the
characteristics of identification, according to the books we have read, is 
the spore print color.  The other evening, we found two individuals of what we 
have provisionally identified as Lactarius torminosus, and two of what may
be Polyporus radicatus, but we cannot get spore prints from them.  They are
not dried out and old, nor extremely young.  Each specimen was laid half on a strip 
of white paper , and half on black, then covered with a glass, and left now nearly 30 
hours. This is the same way we got nice prints with other specimens, but this time, 
absolutely nothing is visible on either color of paper, except some 
warping due to the increased humitity entrapped there.

The question is: WHY NO SPORE PRINT?

Please reply directly, as I do not monitor this list often.

Thanks in advance.


Murray, Calgary                       
                  
       e-mail:   falkm at cadvision.com