Chapter VII: Appendix

As Chief of the Division of Microscopy, U. S. Department of Agriculture, the author prepared for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago a collection of models of edible and poisonous mushrooms, for which a medal and diploma were there awarded. The same collection, which now belongs to the Museum of the Department of Agriculture, was exhibited at the Atlanta Cotton Exposition in 1895, where a diploma was again awarded for it, and has since been exhibited at the exposition of 1897 in Nashville, Tenn. The models composing this collection, about one thousand in number, were made from actual specimens and colored to nature, the same species being generally represented by numerous specimens so as to illustrate the various stages in the life of the plant, habit of growth, etc.

The following is a list of the mushrooms represented in this collection, among which there are types of most of the genera in which species recorded as edible occur:

Amanita _Caesarea_ Schaeff. "Orange Amanita." Edible.

Amanita _rubescens_ Pers. "The Blusher." "Reddish-Brown Amanita." Edible.

Amanita _strobiliformis_ Vitt. "Fir-Cone" or "Pine-Cone Amanita." Edible.

Amanita _pantherinus_ D. C. "Panther Mushroom." Poisonous.

Amanita _phalloides_ Fr. "Poison Amanita." Poisonous.

Amanita _muscaria_ Linn. "Fly Amanita." "False Orange." Poisonous.

Amanita _verna_ Bull. "Spring Mushroom." "Vernal Amanita." Poisonous.

Amanitopsis _vaginata_ Roze. "The _Grizette."_ "Sheathed Amanitopsis." Edible.

Lepiota _procera_ Scop. "Parasol Mushroom." "Tall Lepiota." Edible.

Lepiota _racodes_ Vitt. "Ragged Lepiota." Edible.

Armillaria _mellea_ Fr. "Honey Mushroom." Edible.

Tricholoma _terreum_ Schaeff. "The Gray Cap." Edible.

Clitocybe _illudens_ Schw. "Giant Clitocybe." Unwholesome.

Clitocybe _odora_ Bull. "Odorous Clitocybe." Edible.

Clitocybe _laccata_ Scop. Edible.

Collybia _fusipes_ Bull. "Spindle-Foot Collybia." Edible.

Pleurotus _ostreatus_ Jacq. "Oyster Mushroom." Edible.

Pleurotus _ulmarius_ Jacq. "Elm Pleurotus." Edible.

Volvaria _bombycina_ Schaeff. "Silky Volvaria." This species has been recorded by some authors as poisonous. Hays, after testing it, speaks well of it, and states that is eaten on the Continent.

Volvaria _speciosa_ Fr. Not commended.

Pholiota _caperata_ Pers. Edible.

Agaricus _campester_. "Field Mushroom." Edible.

Agaricus _arvensis_ Schaeff. "Horse Mushroom." Edible.

Hypholoma _sublateritium_. "Brick Top." Edible.

Hypholoma _Candolliana_. Edible.

Coprinus _comatus_ Fr. "Shaggy Mane Mushroom." Edible.

Coprinus _atramentarius_. "Inky Coprinus." Edible.

Cortinarius _turmalis_ Fr. Edible.

Cortinarius _caerulescens_ Fr. Edible.

Hygrophorus _conicus_ Fr. Conical Mushroom. Has been recorded by a number of authors as poisonous. Some later writers speak of it as edible.

Hygrophorus _puniceus_ Fr. "Purplish Hygrophorus." Edible.

Hygrophorus _ceraceus_ Fr. "Waxen Hygrophorus." Edible.

Lactarius _deliciosus_ Fr. "Delicious Lactarius." Edible.

Lactarius _volemus_ Fr. "Orange-brown Lactarius." Edible.

Lactarius _torminosus_ Fr. This mushroom is said to contain an acrid juice which acts seriously on the stomach and alimentary canal.

Lactarius _rufus_ Fr. Intensely acrid.

Lactarius _vellereus_ Fr. Extremely acrid.

Lactarius _piperatus_. "Fiery Milk Mushroom." Extremely acrid when raw. The Russians parboil it, throwing away the liquid, before preparing for pickling. A noted German chemist reports it "not very safe."

Russula _alutacea_ Fr. Yellow-gilled Russula. Edible.

Russula _virescens_ Fr. Edible.

Russula _cyanoxantha_ Schaeff. "Variable Russula." Edible.

Russula _emetica_ Fr. This mushroom is extremely acrid when raw; by some authors it is recorded as poisonous, by others as edible. Chemical analysis has shown that it contains a varying proportion of muscarin, as well as cholin, etc.

Cantharellus _cibarius_ Fr. "The Chantarelle." Edible.

Marasmius _oreades_ Bolt. "The Fairy Ring Mushroom." Edible.

Boletus _edulis_ Bull. Edible.

Boletus _scaber_ Fr. Edible.

Boletus _granulatus_ Linn. Edible.

Boletus _brevipes_ Pk. Edible.

Boletus _luteus_ Linn. Edible.

Boletus _pachypus_ Fr. Edible.

Boletus _Americanus_ Pk. Edible.

Boletus _subtomentosus_ Linn. Edible.

Boletus _castaneus_ Bull. Edible.

Boletus _Satanus_ Lenz. "White-topped Boletus." Recorded as poisonous.

Boletus _luridus_ Schaeff. "Red-pored Boletus." Recorded as poisonous.

Strobilomyces _strobilaceus_ Bull. Edible.

Fistulina _hepatica_ Fr. "Beefsteak Fungus." Edible.

Polyporus _sulfureus_ Bull. Edible.

Hydnum _repandum_ Linn. Edible.

Hydnum _erinaceum_ Bull. Edible.

Sparassis _crispa_ Wulf. Edible.

Clavaria _cinerea_ Bull. Edible.

Clavaria _rugosa_. Edible.

Lycoperdon _gemmatum_ Fr. Edible.

Lycoperdon _giganteum_ Fr. "Giant Puff-Ball." Edible.

Lycoperdon _pyriforme_ Schaeff. "Pear-shaped Puff-Ball." Edible.

Scleroderma _vulgare_ Fr.

Morchella _esculenta_ Pers. Edible.

Morchella _conica_ Bull. Edible.

Hirneola _auricula Judae_ Bull. Edible.

Ithyphallus _impudicus_ Linn. Unwholesome.

Clathrus _cancellatus_ Linn. Unwholesome.

NOTE.--In addition to the above there were also represented a number of coriaceous or woody species which grow upon trees, old stumps, etc.

STUDENT'S HAND-BOOK
OF
MUSHROOMS OF AMERICA

EDIBLE AND POISONOUS.

BY
THOMAS TAYLOR, M. D.

AUTHOR OF FOOD PRODUCTS, ETC.

_Fellow of the A. A. A. S.; Hon. Member of the Mic. Section Royal
Inst., Liverpool, England; Member of Honor of the International
Medical Society of Hygiene, Brussels; Member of the American and
Washington Chemical Societies; French Chemical Society, Paris; of
the American Textile Society; Medical Society of Washington, D. C.;
Cor. Member Academy of Arts and Sciences of Brooklyn, N. Y.; Cor.
Member Mic. Societies of New York, Buffalo, etc., etc._

Published in Serial Form--=No. 5=--Price, 50c. per number.

WASHINGTON, D. C.:
A. R. Taylor, Publisher, 238 Mass. Ave. N.E.
1898.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE.

It has not been possible to represent all the genera of mushrooms which contain species having value as esculents within the compass of this series of five pamphlets, but the demand for these promises to justify the publication, at a future date, of a second series, which the author now has in preparation.

A. R. T.

Copyright, 1898, by
Thomas Taylor, M. D.,
and
A. R. Taylor.

AGARICINI.

LEUCOSPORI--(Spores White).

Subgenus _Pleurotus_ Fries. The Pleuroti are similar in some respects to the Tricholomas and Clitocybes, some of the species having notched gills near the stem, and others, again, having the gills decurrent, or running down the stem. Most of the species grow upon dead wood or from decaying portions of live trees. Very few grow upon the ground. The stem is mostly eccentric, lateral, or wanting; when present it is homogeneous or confluent with the substance of the cap; the substance may be compact, spongy, slightly fleshy, or membranaceous. Veil evanescent or absent. The spores are white or slightly tinted.

M. C. Cooke figures over thirty species of Pleurotus found in Great Britain, and describes 45 species found in Australia. With few exceptions, all of these grow upon wood. Very few have value as esculents.

PLATE J.

=Ag. (Pleurotus) ostreatus= Jacq. "_Oyster Mushroom_."

EDIBLE.

Cap soft, fleshy, smooth, shell-shaped, white or cinereous, turning brownish or yellowish with age. Flesh white, somewhat fibrous. Gills white, broad and decurrent, anastamosing at the base. Stem usually not well defined, lateral, or absent. Spores elliptical, white. The caps are sometimes thickly clustered and closely overlapping, and sometimes wide apart. This mushroom has long been known as edible both raw and cooked. It has a pleasant but not decided flavor and must be cooked slowly and carefully to be tender and easily digestible. Old specimens are apt to be tough. It is found on decaying wood and often on fallen logs in moist places or upon decaying tree-trunks. It is frequently recurrent on the same tree. I have gathered great quantities of the Oyster mushroom during several seasons past from a fallen birch tree which spanned a small stream. The lower end of the tree rested on the moist ground at the edge of the stream. Specimens have been found on the willow, ash and poplar trees, and upon the apple and the laburnum.

Pleurotus _sapidus_ Kalchb. _Sapid Pleurotus_. Edible.

This species closely resembles the Oyster mushroom in form and habit of growth, and is by some considered only a variety of _P. ostreatus_. It grows usually in tufts with the caps closely overlapping, varying in color white, ashy, grayish or brownish. Flesh white. The stems are white, smooth and short, mostly springing from a common base. The gills are white and very broad, and decurrent. The spores assume a very pale lilac tint on exposure to the atmosphere.

Pleurotus _ulmarius_ Bull. "_Elm Pleurotus_." Edible.

The Elm Pleurotus is quite conspicuous by reason of its large size and light color. The cap is smooth and compact, usually whitish with a dull yellowish tinge in the center. Flesh white. The skin cracks very easily, giving it a scaly appearance. The gills are broad, and toothed or notched near their point of attachment to the stem as in the Tricholomas, white in color, turning yellowish with age. The stem is firm and smooth, solid and rather eccentric, thick and sometimes slightly downy near the base, from two to four inches in length. Although this mushroom seems to prefer the elm and is most frequently found on trees of that species, it is found also upon other trees, but principally the maple, the ash, the willow, and the poplar. It grows upon live trees, usually where the branches have been cut away, and upon stumps as well. Most authors recommend it as an esculent, although it has not the rich flavor of some other mushrooms. It dries well and can be kept thus for winter use. This species has a wide range and grows most abundantly in the autumn. Its resistance to cold has been frequently remarked.

AGARICINI.

Subgenus _Amanita_. The Amanitas are usually large and somewhat watery, the flesh brittle rather than tough. The very young plants are enveloped in a membranous wrapper, which breaks apart with the expansion of the plant, leaving a more or less persistent sheath at the base of the stem. The universal veil is distinct and free from the cuticle of the cap. The cap is convex at first, then expanded; in some species naked and smooth; in others, clothed with membranaceous patches of the volva. The stem is distinct from the fleshy substance of the cap, ringed and furnished with a volva or sheath. In some of the species this sheath is connate with the base of the stem, firm and persistent. In others, it is friable, at length nearly obsolete.

The ring is usually persistent, deflexed, more or less prominent, in rare cases pressed close against the stem, and sometimes scarcely distinguishable from it. The gills in most of the species are free from the stems, but there are exceptions to this rule. Spores white. As to geographical distribution, according to M. C. Cooke, seven-eighths of the species are distinctly located in the temperate zone, one-twentieth at a temperate elevation, and only one-twentieth presumably tropical. Out of the eighty species, about sixty are North American and European, and one species is found on the slopes of the Andes, in South America. As heretofore stated, this group among mushrooms is made responsible for most of the well authenticated cases of fatal poisoning by mushrooms. It would be judicious, therefore, for those who are not thoroughly familiar with the characteristics of the edible Amanitas to defer making experiments with them for table use until that familiarity is acquired.

Saccardo in his _Sylloge_ describes no less than fifteen edible species of Amanita as found in different parts of the world. Of those I have personally been able to identify but three which are common in this country, and which have been well tested. Specimens of these three species are illustrated in Plates XIV and XIV-1/2 of this pamphlet. They are each and all found in varying abundance in different parts of the United States.

PLATE XIV.

FIGS. 1 to 4. =Ag. (Amanita) Caesareus= Scop. (=Amanita Caesarea=).
"_Orange Amanita_," "_True Orange_."

EDIBLE.

Cap at first convex, afterwards well expanded; _smooth_, free from warts, striate on the margin; color orange-red or bright lemon-yellow, with red disk; gills lemon-yellow, rounded near the stem, and free from it; stem equal or slightly tapering upwards, stuffed with cottony fibrils, or hollow (color clear lemon-yellow), bearing a yellowish ring near the top and sheathed at the base with large, loose, membranous, white volva. Odor faint but agreeable. Spores white, elliptical.

The whole plant is symmetrical in form, brilliant in coloring, clean and attractive in appearance. The American plant seems to differ in some slight respects from the European as figured and described in European works. In Europe the pileus or cap is said to vary in color, being sometimes white, pale yellow, red or even copper color, although it is usually orange-yellow. My own observation of the American plant of this species agrees with that of Prof. Peck in that the cap is uniform in color, being at first bright reddish-orange or even brilliant red, fading with age to yellow, either wholly or only on the margin. No white specimens have been as yet recorded in this country. The red color disappears in the dried specimens. The striations of the margin are usually quite deep and long and almost as distant as in the edible species Amanitopsis _vaginata_. Some European writers have described the flesh or substance of the cap as yellowish. In our plant the flesh is white, but stained with yellow or red immediately under the cuticle. Amanita _Caesarea_ is the only one of the Amanitas which has yellow gills.

Berkeley, in his "Outlines of British Fungi," describes A. Caesarea as it is found in some parts of Continental Europe, but states that up to the date of his writing it had not been found in Great Britain. It is not recorded in the more recent lists of British fungi by M. C. Cooke nor in that of Australian fungi by the same author. The species has a wide range in this country, and though not very common in the North, in some localities, as in the pine and oak woods of North Carolina, it is found in great abundance. Dufour states that it is much esteemed as an esculent in France, and though rare in the northern part of that country, it is common in the center and the south of France in autumn. It is well known in different portions of Continental Europe, and is frequently figured in contrast with its very poisonous congener, Amanita muscaria, or "False Orange," commonly known as the "Fly Amanita," or "Fly-Killer."

A careless observer might mistake one for the other, but with a little attention to well-defined details the edible form can be readily distinguished from the poisonous one.

In analyzing the species the attention should be directed to the following characteristics of the two mushrooms: In A. _Caesarea_ the cap is _smooth_, the stem, gills and ring _lemon-yellow_, and the cup-shaped wrapper or volva which sheathes the base of the stem is white and _persistently membranous_.

In A. _muscaria_ the cap is _warty_ or shows the traces or remains of warts; the gills _white_, stem _white_, or only very slightly yellowish, and the wrapper or volva is evanescent, breaking up into ridge-like patches adhering to the base of the stem.

The Amanita Caesarea has long been esteemed as an esculent in foreign countries, and was known in ancient times to the Greeks and Romans. It is known under the following names: "Orange," "Caesar's mushroom," "Imperial mushroom," "Yellow-egg," "Kaiserling," etc. Mycologists who have tested it agree as to its edibility and delicate flavor.

The specimens figured in Plate XIV represent the average size of those which I have gathered in the vicinity of the District of Columbia. Much larger ones have been gathered in the woody portions of Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Md.

Dufour writes: "This mushroom, the "true oronge," is cooked in a variety of ways, and it always constitutes an exquisite dish." This author gives the following recipes for cooking the _Caesarea_, which he calls the "Oronge:"

_Oronge a la bordelaise._--The stem is minced with fine herbs, bread-crumbs, and garlic, and seasoned with pepper and salt. This hash is placed in the concavity of the caps, and all is put to bake with good oil in a pan steamed in a chafing dish.

_Oronge a l'Italienne._--Stew gently with a little butter and salt, then serve with a sauce composed of oil seasoned with the juice of lemon, pepper, garlic, and extract of sweet almond.

The Spanish are fond of this mushroom, and it is said to enter into their national dish, olla podrida, a mixture of meat, vegetables, and spices, whenever it can be obtained.

It is sometimes fried in butter or olive oil and seasoned with sugar.

PLATE XIV.

FIGS. 5 to 9.--=Ag. (Amanita) rubescens= Pers. (=Amanita
rubescens=). "_The Blusher_," "_Reddish Brown Amanita_."

EDIBLE.

Cap at first convex then expanded, margin even or very slightly striated, usually reddish-brown or reddish-fawn color, covered with mealy, more or loss persistent warts; flesh white, changing to a reddish or pinkish tinge, where cut or bruised, the reddish tinge most intense in the bulbous portion of the base of the stem; _gills reaching the stem and forming decurrent lines upon it_, white, becoming spotted with rusty or wine red stains when bruised or attacked by insects; stem ringed, whitish or dingy white, becoming brownish or spotted, with reddish-brown stains. The base of the stem is usually bulbous, the bulb sometimes tapering to a point at the root, and in some instances ending abruptly.

The ring or collar which encircles the stem near the top is membranous, and usually well defined.

The volva which completely envelops the young plant is very friable and soon disappears. Fragments of the volva may be seen in the shape of scales or small particles upon the mushroom stem, and in wart-like patches upon the cap. In the representations of this mushroom which appear in European works the cap is a deeper reddish-brown tint than I have found it here. The color of the cap is usually a light reddish brown or reddish gray, sometimes almost white. This species is found usually in light open woods. In a warm moist climate it appears early in the season, and can be gathered until the frosts come. Taste very pleasant.

There is a poisonous species, Amanita _pantherinus_, rare, which has a viscid brown warted cap bearing a slight resemblance to that of the _rubescens_, but the gills do not turn red when bruised, and the volva at the base of the stem is well defined and persistent.

The _rubescens_ is very plentiful in the woods of Maryland and Virginia, and specimens have been received from different parts of the country. I have frequently eaten it stewed with butter, and found it very good eating. Hay speaks of it as being eaten in England, where it is called the "Blusher." Cooke says it is pleasant both in taste and odor. It is spoken of by French authors as of delicate flavor, and as well known in some parts of France. In preparing for the table bring the mushroom to a quick boil and pour off the first water, then stew with flavoring to suit the taste.

The specimens of this species represented in Plate XIV were collected in the woods of Forest Glen, Maryland. They are often found of much larger size and much lighter in coloring, with the stains upon the gills redder in color. The very young plants as they burst through the surface of the soil show a distinct volva at the base of the stem. In the mature plant this disappears, often leaving the slightly bulbous base quite smooth.

PLATE XIV-1/2.

=Ag. (Amanita) strobiliformis= Fries (=Amanita strobiliformis=).
"_Fir-cone Mushroom_."

EDIBLE.

Cap fleshy, convex at first, then expanded, covered with persistent white warts, margin even, white; flesh white, firm and compact; gills rounded behind and free from the stem, white; stem solid, the bulbous base tapering, furrowed with concentric and longitudinal channels at the root, and extending well into the ground, white; ring large, soon splitting; volva breaking up and appearing in concentric ridges upon the stem. Spores white.

This mushroom is very pleasant to the taste when raw as well as when cooked. It is found in light woods or on the borders of woods where the soil is somewhat friable, generally solitary, but sometimes two or three are found clustered together. The plants are sometimes so large that two or three of them would make a very good meal. Specimens have been found with the cap measuring 8 to 9 inches across when expanded, the stem varying from 6 to 8 inches in height, and from 1 to 3 inches in thickness. When young the plants are generally snowy white throughout, changing with age to a dingy white or cinereous hue. The specimens figured in the plate formed one of a cluster of three mushrooms of this species found growing in the fir woods of the District of Columbia.

During some seasons I have found the _strobiliformis_, or "Fir-cone mushroom," fairly plentiful in some parts of Maryland, and in other seasons it has been rare. The whole plant when young is enclosed in a white membranous wrapper.

Although this species is very generally recognized by mycologists as edible, I would advise great caution in selecting specimens for table use, since there is a dangerous species which might be mistaken for it by one not familiar with the characteristics of both species; I refer to a form of Amanita muscaria with ochraceous yellow cap which, when faded or bleached by the sun and rain, sometimes approaches, in tint, the dingy white of old or faded specimens of the _strobiliformis_. Both species have _white gills_, _white stems_, and _white flocculent veil_. The volva is evanescent in both, leaving traces of its existence in concentric ridges at the base, and part way up the stem.

In the species _strobiliformis_, the flesh of the cap is white throughout, as well as the cuticle.

In the yellowish _muscaria_, the flesh _immediately_ beneath the cuticle of the upper surface of the cap is yellowish, frequently deepening at the disk to orange hue.

The cap of Amanita _muscaria_ is very attractive to flies, but proves to them, as also to roaches and to some other insects, a deadly poison.

The juice of _strobiliformis_ is not poisonous to flies. This fact may aid in identifying the species.

Subgenus _Amanitopsis_ Roze. The species of this subgenus were formerly included in Amanita. The characteristic which separates it from Amanita is the _absence of a ring on the stem_. The gills are free from the stem, the spores are white, and the whole plant in youth is encased in an egg-shaped volva.[A]

[A] Although this subgenus is not included in M. C. Cooke's analytical key to the order of Agaricini, published with his kind permission in No. 3 of this series, he now includes it as one of the subgenera which should have a place in that list.

Amanitopsis _vaginata_ Roze. Edible.

This species is very common in pine and oak forests. The plant, as a whole, has a graceful aspect and grows singly or scattered through open places in the woods. It is somewhat fragile and easily broken. The cap in this species is usually a mouse-gray, sometimes slaty gray or brownish, generally umbonate in the center and distinctly striated on the margin.

The stem is white, equal, and slender in proportion to the width of the cap, and sheathed quite far up with a loose white membranous wrapper. This sheath is so slightly attached to the base of the stem that it is often left in the ground if the plant is carelessly pulled. The gills are white, or whitish, free from the stem and rounded at the outer extremity.

There is a white variety, (variety _alba_) A. _nivalis_, in which the whole plant is white, and a tawny variety (A. _fulva_ Schaeff.) in which the cap is a pale ochraceous yellow, with the gills and stem white or whitish. In the variety A. _livida_ or A. _spadicea_ Grev. the cap is brown, while the stem and gills are tinged a smoky brown.

These are all edible and of fairly good flavor. Except in the absence of the ring upon the stem, the light varieties might be mistaken for small forms of the poisonous species Amanita _verna_ or of _phalloides_. Great caution should therefore be observed, in gathering for the table, to be sure of the species.

PLATE XV.

Figs. 1 to 7.--=Ag. (Amanita) muscarius= Linn. (=Amanita muscaria=).
"_Fly Mushroom_," "_False Orange_."

POISONOUS.

Cap warty, margin striate; gills white, reaching the stem, and often forming decurrent lines upon it; stem white, stuffed, annulate, bulbous at the base, concentrically ridged or scaly at the base, and sometimes part way up, with fragments of the ruptured wrapper. Spores widely elliptical, white, .0003 to .0004 of an inch in length.

The plants of this species vary very much in size and in the color of the cap. The latter is sometimes a bright scarlet and again it is orange color, more frequently ochraceous yellow, fading to a very pale yellow tint. In the variety _albus_ it is white. The stem is stuffed with webby fibrils and varies very much in thickness: sometimes in young specimens it is very stout, with a thick ovate bulb reaching well up towards the cap, and again it is comparatively slender and nearly equal from the cap down to a very slight bulb at the base. The very young plant is completely enveloped in a white or yellowish egg-shaped wrapper or volva, which, being friable, generally breaks up into scales, forming warts upon the upper surface of the cap. When the plant is young and moist the cap is slightly sticky. A thickish white veil extends from the stem to the inner margin of the cap. This breaks away with the growth and expansion of the plant and falls in lax folds, forming a deflexed ring round the upper portion of the stem.

This mushroom is very common in woods and forests in summer and autumn, and has a wide geographical range. It is recorded by all mycologists as poisonous. One author states that when eaten in very small quantities it acts as a cathartic, but that it causes death when eaten freely. Flies find in it a deadly poison, and the poisonous alkaloids are not destroyed by drying.

Although cases are cited where this mushroom has been eaten without injury, its fatally poisonous effects have been too well and too often tested to allow of any doubt as to the danger of eating it, even in small quantities.

Amanita Frostiana, Frost's Amanita, is a much smaller species than A. muscaria. It bears a very close resemblance to the Fly Amanita, and might easily be taken for a small form of the same. The cap is yellowish and warted, and specimens occur in which the stem and gills are slightly tinged with yellow. It is poisonous.

PLATE XV.

FIG. 8.--=Ag. (Amanita) phalloides= Fries (=Amanita phalloides=)
=A. vernalis= Bolt., =A. verrucosus= Curtis. "_Poisonous Amanita_,"
"_Death Cup_."

POISONOUS.

Cap bell-shaped or ovate at first, then expanded, smooth, obtuse, viscid, margin even, creamy-white, brown, or greenish, without warts; flesh white; stem white, hollow or stuffed, bulbous at the base, annulate; gills rounded and ventricose, coarse, and persistently white, free from the stem; volva conspicuous, large, loose, adhering to the base, but free from the stem at the top, with the margin irregularly notched. In the white forms there is frequently a greenish or yellow tinge at the disk or centre of the cap. The white form is most common, but the brownish is often found in this country. I have not yet found the green-capped variety sometimes figured in European works. In the brown variety the stem and ring are often tinged with brown, as also the volva. The cap is usually from 2 to 3 inches broad, and the stem from 3 to 5 inches long. The whole plant is symmetrical in shape and clean looking, though somewhat clammy to the touch when moist. It is very common in mixed woods, in some localities, and is universally considered as fatally poisonous.

The white form of A. _phalloides_, although in reality bearing very little resemblance to the common field mushroom, has been mistaken for it as also for the _Smooth white lepiota_, and in some instances has been eaten with fatal results by those who gathered it.

The distinction between this most poisonous Amanita and the common field mushroom is well marked. In the common mushroom the _gills_ are _pink, becoming dark brown_, the _spores purplish brown_, and the whole mushroom is stout and short stemmed, the stem being shorter than the diameter of the cap, and having no volva, or wrapper at its base. In the species A. _phalloides_ the _gills_ are _persistently white_ and the bulb is distinct and broad at the base, the white cup-shaped wrapper sheathing the base of the stem like the calyx of a flower. The _Smooth white lepiota_ shows neither volva nor trace of one, and has other distinct characteristics which distinguish it from A. _phalloides_. See page 14, No. 4 of this series.

The specimen figured in Plate XV grew in Maryland, where it is quite common.

PLATE XV.

FIG. 9.--=Ag. (Amanita) mappa (Amanita mappa)= Linn., =Amanita
citrina=, =A. virosa.=

POISONOUS.

Cap at first convex, then expanded, dry, without a separable cuticle, not warty but showing white, yellowish, or brownish scales or patches on its upper surface; gills white, adnexed; flesh white, sometimes slightly yellowish under the skin; stem stuffed, then hollow, cylindrical, yellowish white, nearly smooth, with a distinctly bulbous base; volva white or brownish. Odor pleasant. Spores spheroidal. The cap in this species is somewhat variable in color, but those having a white cap are most common. The plant is not so tall as those of the species _phalloides_. It is solitary in habit, and is found usually in open woods.

Curtis and Lowerby figure _mappa_ and _phalloides_ under the same name.

PLATE XVI.

FIGS. 1 to 4.--=Ag. (Amanita) vernus= Bull. =(Amanita verna)= Linn.,
=Amanita bulbosa=, =Ag. solitarius.= "_Vernal Mushroom_," "_Spring
Mushroom_," etc.

POISONOUS.

Cap at first ovate, then expanded, becoming at length slightly depressed, viscid, white; margin smooth; flesh white; gills white, free; stem white, equal, stuffed or hollow, easily splitting, floccose, with bulbous base; volva white, closely embracing the stem, but free from it at the margin; ring reflexed; spores globose, .0003 in. broad. The plant is creamy white throughout and does not seem to be easily distinguishable from the white forms of A. _phalloides_. Fries and some others consider this species merely a variety of Amanita _phalloides_, and it is regarded as equally poisonous, the poisonous principle being the same as that of A. _phalloides_. It is very common in mixed woods from early spring to frosty weather.

ALKALOIDS OF THE POISONOUS MUSHROOMS.

Schrader, after some experiments made in 1811, stated that the poisonous principle of the "Fly mushroom," Amanita muscaria, seemed to be combined with its red coloring matter and might be extracted by water or aqueous alcohol, but that it was not soluble in ether.

Vaquelin, as the result of more extended investigations made in 1813, expressed the opinion that this poison was not confined to the coloring matter of the mushroom, but that it was an integral part of the fatty constituents not only of _muscaria_ but of several species of mushrooms. In 1826 and 1830, and again in 1867, important investigations were made and published by Letellier relating to the medical and poisonous properties of mushrooms growing around Paris. Letellier's early investigations led him to the conclusion that there were two poisons contained in certain fungi--(1) an acrid principle easily destroyed by drying or boiling or by maceration in alcohol or in alkaline solution, and (2) a peculiar poisonous alkaloid found only in certain of the Amanita group. Letellier in 1866 named this latter alkaloid _amanitin_. He then considered it to be the active poison of Amanita _muscaria_, Amanita _phalloides_, and Amanita _verna_, but a subsequent analysis by the German chemists Schmiedeberg and Koppe showed the _amanitin_ of Letellier to be identical with _cholin_, a substance found in bile. Kobert says that _amanitin_ is non-poisonous in itself, but states that it may be changed on decay of the mushroom to the muscarin-like acting _neurin_, which is highly poisonous. He thinks it highly probable that nearly all of the edible and non-edible mushrooms contain pure _amanitin_ (cholin) partly in primitive condition and partly in a more intricate organic connection, as _lecithin_. It has been demonstrated that amanitin separates very readily from lecithin during the _decay or careless drying_ of mushrooms and changes into the _poisonous neurin_; hence the necessity of using mushrooms only when _perfectly fresh_ or when _quickly dried_.

MUSCARIN.[A]

[A] The earliest account of the separation of the poisonous principles of the mushrooms of the genus Amanita dates back to the experiments of Apoiger in 1851. Harnack's researches were published in 1876 and those of Huseman in 1882.

To the eminent German chemists Schmiedeberg and Koppe is due the credit of isolating the active poisonous principle of the Fly mushroom (_muscarin_). These authors published in 1869 a series of interesting experiments made with _muscarin_, having relation to its effect upon the heart, respiration, secretions and digestive organs, etc., and this was supplemented by other experiments made by their pupils, Prof. R. Boehm and E. Harnack. Schmiedeberg and Koppe's work relates to the effect of this poison on man as well as upon the lower animals. Dr. J. L. Prevost in 1874 reviewed the investigations made by Schmiedeberg and Koppe in a paper read before the Biological Society of Geneva, adding some confirmatory observations of his own relative to experiments made with muscarin upon the lower animals. The experiments made by these authors demonstrated "that muscarin arrests the action of a frog's heart, that a muscarined frog's heart began to beat immediately under the influence of atropin, and further that it was impossible to muscarine a frog's heart while under the influence of atropin."

Schmiedeberg subjected cats and dogs to doses of muscarin, large enough to produce death, and when the animals were about to succumb, injected hypodermically from one to two milligrams of sulphate of _atropin_, after which the toxic symptoms disappeared and the animals completely revived. Prof. Boehm found that _digitalin_ likewise re-established heart action when suspended by the action of muscarin.

In man the fatal termination, in cases of mushroom poisoning, where the antidote is not used, may take place in from 5 to 12 hours or not for two or three days.

According to Prof. E. Kobert's recent chemical analysis, the "Fly mushroom," Amanita muscaria, contains not only the very poisonous alkaloid _muscarin_ and the _amanitin_ of Letellier (_cholin_), but also a third alkaloid, _pilz atropin_. The pilz-atropin (mushroom atropin) was discovered by Schmiedeberg in a _commercial_ preparation of _muscarin_, and later Prof. Kobert discovered it in varying proportions in fresh mushrooms of different species. The effect of this third alkaloid, it is claimed, is to neutralize to a greater or less extent the effect of the poisonous one. Under its influence, when present in quantity, the poison is almost entirely neutralized. Contraction of the pupils changes to dilation, and slowing of the pulse may disappear. Only through the presence of this natural antidote in the Fly mushroom, says Kobert, is it possible, as in some parts of France and Russia, to eat without danger this mushroom, which contains 10% of sugar (trehalose or mycose) in a fermented and unfermented condition. He states also that delirium, intoxication, and other symptoms which, according to Prof. Dittmer of Kamschatka and various scientific travellers, are reported effects of the Fly mushroom in the extreme north, are not experienced in the same degree in southern Russia. This difference in action, he thinks, may be very properly attributed to the varying proportion of the above-mentioned atropin in the mushroom or to the presence of substances which develop only in the extreme north.

The symptoms of _muscarin_ poisoning, apart from vomiting and purging, are slowing of the pulse, cerebral disturbance, contraction of the pupils, salivation and sweating. In case of death, which is caused by suffocation or a suspension of heart action, the lungs are found to be filled with air, and there is a transfusion of blood in the alimentary canal.

Prof. R. Kobert, in a lecture delivered before the University of Dorpat in 1891, states that _muscarin_ is found equally in the Fly mushroom (A. muscaria), the Panther mushroom (A. pantherinus), Boletus luridus, and in varying quantities in Russula emetica. He states also that though highly poisonous to vertebrates, _muscarin_ is not so to flies, and that the noxious principle in A. muscaria which kills the flies is not as yet determined.

It has been shown that the lower animals, such as sheep and geese, as well as man, have been severely poisoned by feeding on the "Fly mushroom," and that in the case of the horse, experiments have demonstrated that even 0.04 of a gramme, 0.62 of a grain, have caused marked symptoms of poisoning.

For _muscarin_ as for _neurin_ poisoning the antidote is atropin administered internally or by subcutaneous injection.

PHALLIN.

The toxic alkaloid of Amanita _phalloides_ Fries (Amanita _bulbosa_) was examined by Boudier, who named it "_bulbosin_," and by Ore, who named it "_phalloidin_," but their examinations, it is claimed, proved little beyond the fact that it seemed to be in the nature of an alkaloid, identical neither with _muscarin_ nor _helvellic_ acid.

Ore affirmed that the _phalloidin_ of the Amanita phalloides was very nearly related to, and perhaps identical with, strychnine. From this view Kobert and others dissent.

The poisonous principle of Amanita _phalloides_ has recently been subjected to very careful analysis by Prof. Kobert. As a result of a large number of experiments and post-mortem examinations held on persons poisoned by A. _phalloides_, Kobert states that the symptoms can be explained uniformly by the action of a poison, to which he gives the provisional name of "_phallin_." This is an albuminous substance which dissolves the corpuscles of the blood, resembling in this and other respects in a remarkable degree the action of _helvellic_ acid.

According to Kobert _phallin_ has so far only been found in Amanita _phalloides_ and in its varieties _verna_, _mappa_, etc. He finds also in this mushroom muscarin and an atropin-like alkaloid.

The symptoms of the phalloides poisoning are complex. Vomiting is accompanied by diarrhoea, cold sweats, fainting at times, convulsions, ending in coma. There is also fever and a quickening of the pulse. All these symptoms, which follow in succession, according to one author, are dependent on two different poisonous substances. The first may be an acrid and fixed poison, for it is found after repeated dryings, as well in the aqueous as in the alcoholic extract. The second acts by absorption, and is purely narcotic.

Phallin has some of the properties of the toxalbumin of poisonous spiders, and is a vegetable toxalbumin.

It has been remarked that in cases of poisoning by A. _phalloides_, the mushroom has tasted very good, and those poisoned felt well for several hours after eating.

Phalloides poisoning is said to bear a marked resemblance to phosphorus poisoning and to acute jaundice. There is no known antidote to the poisonous alkaloid _phallin_.

According to Prof. Kobert's analyses, the proportion of phallin in the dried mushroom amounts to less than 1%, but its effect on account of its concentration is the more intensive.

Extensive experiments made by Kobert with ox blood in regard to the comparative action of different substances in their power of dissolving the red blood corpuscles demonstrate that _phallin_ in this respect exceeds all known substances. Kobert states that "If _phallin_ be added to a mixture of blood with a 1% solution of common salt, using the blood of man, cattle, dogs, or pigeons, the blood corpuscles will be entirely dissolved by the poison diluted to 1-125,000."

Prof. Kobert states that he has examined the species Boletus edulis, Agaricus campester, and Amanita Caesarea a number of times, but could never detect the action of phallin in them. Neither has he found it in A. muscaria.

THE POISONOUS ALKALOID OF GYROMITRA ESCULENTA FRIES (HELVELLA ESCULENTA PERS.)

HELVELLIC ACID.

Prof. Kobert writes of a number of cases of poisoning in the Baltic provinces of Russia by the mushroom Helvella _esculenta_ Persoon, sometimes called the Lorchel. It should be here stated that the _Helvella esculenta_ of Persoon is the _Gyromitra esculenta_ of Fries. This mushroom is described as edible and placed in the edible lists by Dr. M. C. Cooke, Prof. Peck, and other distinguished mycologists, who have tested it and found it edible when perfectly fresh.

The poisonous principle of this mushroom was isolated and analyzed by Prof. R. Boehm, of Russia, in 1885. It was by him designated as "_helvellic acid_," and found to be soluble in hot water. Profs. Eugene Bostroem and E. Ponfick, after giving some study to the effects of this mushroom poison, agreed in their report concerning it, which is to the effect that the _quickly dried_ H. _esculenta_ (Gyromitra _esculenta_) is not poisonous, and that the poisonous acid of the fresh ones may be extracted by means of hot water, so that while the decoction is poisonous the mushroom is not at all so, after the liquid is pressed out. Experiments with this mushroom were made by both authors on dogs, which ate them greedily, but without exception the dogs were very sick afterwards. The symptoms were nausea, vomiting, jaundice, stoppage of the kidneys, and haemaglobinuria. The symptoms observed in man correspond to those manifested by the lower animals. Dissection showed the dissolution of innumerable blood corpuscles.

Prof. Kobert, commenting on the experiments made by Bostroem and Ponfick, states that he himself had been furnished yearly with fresh specimens of "H. _esculenta_" (G. _esculenta_) specially gathered for him at Dorpat, and after making various experiments with the freshly expressed juice he became convinced that the poisonous principle greatly varies, the juice sometimes operating as very poisonous, and sometimes as only slightly so. He states also that the proportion of poison in the mushroom varies with the weather, location, and age of the mushroom. The inhabitants of Russia do not eat this mushroom, but in Germany it is eaten dried or when perfectly fresh, after cooking, and after the first water in which it is boiled is removed.

Helvellic acid is not found in Morchella _esculenta_ (the true Morel), nor is it known to exist in any other species except G. _esculenta_. It has been stated that there is no antidote for helvellic poisoning after the symptoms have appeared.

A specimen of Gyromitra esculenta was forwarded to me from Portland, Maine, by a member of a mycological club of that city, who stated that this mushroom was quite abundant in the early spring in the woods near Portland and that the plants were eaten by the members of the club, _care being taken to use them only when perfectly fresh_. Indigestion and nausea followed the eating of old specimens, but the general opinion was "favorable to the Gyromitra as an addition to the table." (See page 6, part 2, of this series.)

Prof. Chas. H. Peck, of Albany, while placing this mushroom in his edible list as one which he had repeatedly tested, advises that it should be eaten only when perfectly fresh, as nausea and sickness had been known to result from the eating of specimens which had been kept twenty-four hours before cooking.

I forwarded a number of drawings of the American species of G. _esculenta_, together with a dried specimen of the same received from Maine, to Prof. Kobert, who identified both drawings and specimen as the _Gyromitra esculenta_ of Fries, synonymous with the _Helvella esculenta_ of Persoon. Prof. Kobert also informs me that he finds the fresh G. _esculenta_ perfectly harmless when freed of the water of the first boiling. He says: "My wife and I eat it very often, when in fresh condition, and after the first water in which it is boiled is poured off." The active poisonous principle of this mushroom is the _helvellic acid_, which is soluble in hot water. When the mushroom is gathered fresh and _quickly dried_ it is then also innoxious. In this respect it differs from the species _A. muscaria_, in which the poisonous alkaloid _muscarin_ is not destroyed in the drying, but remains unchanged for years in the dried mushroom.

The fact that there have been seemingly well-authenticated cases of fatal poisoning in the eating of this mushroom shows that if used at all it should be eaten _only when the conditions essential to safety are most carefully observed_, and as these mushrooms show varying qualities, according to local conditions of soil and climate, etc., amateurs finding it in localities where it has not been heretofore used should proceed tentatively and with much care before venturing to eat it freely.

POISONOUS AND DELETERIOUS MUSHROOMS OF THE LACTAR, RUSSULA, AND BOLETUS GROUPS.

Lactarius _torminosus_ Fries contains in its milky juice an acrid resin which causes inflammation of the stomach and of the alimentary canal. When parboiled and the first water removed, it has been eaten without injurious effects. Lactarius _plumbeus_ Bull., Lactarius _uvidus_ Fries, Lactarius _turpis_ Weinn., and Lactarius _pyrogalus_ Bull., all acrid mushrooms, according to Kobert, are similarly poisonous.

Of the "Erdschieber" (Lactarius _vellereus_) and the "Pfefferling" (Lactarius piperatus Scop.) Kobert says they are eaten in parts of Russia and in some places in Germany, but that neither is very safe.

There is a species of _Russula_ (R. _emetica_) very common in woods, easily recognized by its smooth scarlet top, white gills, and white stem and by its biting acridity, which, though recorded as poisonous by some authors, is considered edible by others. This mushroom, R. _emetica_, has been subjected to chemical analysis by Kobert, who finds in it _muscarin_, _cholin_, and _pilz-atropin_ in varying proportions. Kobert states that in Germany it is "_rightly_" considered poisonous, though eaten in Russia, and ascribes the fact that it is not deemed poisonous in the latter country to the manner in which it is there prepared, the poisonous alkaloid being in greater part eliminated by parboiling the mushrooms, and not merely pouring off the water, but carefully squeezing it out of the parboiled fungi.

To the presence in this mushroom of the neutralizing alkaloid "pilz-atropin" in varying proportions may also be attributed in some measure the safety with which it has been eaten under certain conditions. R. foetens and other acrid Russulas, as well as Lactars, have been known to produce severe gastro-enteritis.

Considering the foregoing, it would seem the part of prudence at least to avoid such of the Lactars and Russulas as have an acrid or peppery taste.

I think it would be a wise precaution to pour off the water of the first boiling in the case of all mushrooms about which there is a particle of doubt, whether _recorded_ as poisonous or not.

Lactarius _torminosus_ Fries. Cap fleshy, at first convex, then expanded, at length depressed in the center, slightly zoned, margin turned inwards, pale ochraceous yellow, with flesh-colored mottlings; _downy_ or _hairy_; gills whitish, changing to pinkish yellow, narrow and close together; stem equal, stuffed or hollow, pallid or whitish; milk persistently _white and acrid_. In woods and fields. Specimens have been collected in New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Virginia. Cap 3 to 5 inches, stem 2-1/2 to 4 inches.

Lactarius _pyrogalus_. Cap fleshy, slightly zoned, _smooth_, even, and moist, depressed in the center, grayish, or cinereous; gills white or yellowish, thin, not crowded; stem short, stout, stuffed, or hollow, sometimes slightly attenuated towards the root, pallid; flesh white or whitish; milk _white_ and _extremely acrid_, copious. Borders of woods and meadows. This mushroom is sometimes called the "Fiery Milk Mushroom."

Lactarius _uvidus_ Fries. Cap thin, convex, then plane, and slightly depressed in the center, sometimes showing slight umbo, viscid, _zoneless_, smooth, dingy gray or pallid brown, margin turned inwards; gills narrow and close together, white or yellowish, when cut or bruised turning a purplish hue; stem stuffed or hollow, viscid, smooth, equal or slightly tapering towards the cap, white; milk white, changing to lilac, acrid. Height 2 to 4 inches. Cap 2 to 4 inches broad. In woods.

Lactarius _turpis_ Fries. Cap viscid, compact, _zoneless_, greenish umber, margin clothed with yellowish down; gills thin, paler than the cap; stem hollow or stuffed, stoutish, short, viscid, olive color, slightly attenuated towards the base; milk _white_, _acrid_. Fir woods.

Lactarius _plumbeus_ Fries. Cap fleshy, firm, dry, somewhat hairy, varying in color, usually some shade of brown; gills yellowish, thin, and close together; stem solid, equal, lighter in color than the cap; flesh white; milk _white_ and _acrid_.

Lactarius _vellereus_ Fries. _Fleecy Lactarius_. Cap compact, convex or umbilicate, zoneless, _minutely downy_; margin reflexed, gills white, _distant_, arcuate; stem short, solid, pubescent; milk _white_, _acrid_, somewhat scanty. In woods. Whole plant white.

Lactarius _piperatus_ Scop. _Peppery Lactarius_. Cap fleshy, compact, convex and slightly umbilicate, at last deeply depressed, becoming funnel-formed, smooth and even; gills decurrent, very narrow, thin, even and close together, dichotonous, white; flesh white; milk _white_, _extremely acrid_, copious; stem very short, stout, solid. Whole plant white.

Lactarius _blennius_ Fries. Cap depressed, slimy or glutinous, greenish-gray; margin incurved and somewhat downy. Gills narrow, white or whitish; stem stuffed or hollow, viscid, and of same color as the cap or paler; milk white and very acrid.

M. C. Cooke divides the genus Lactarius into 4 "Tribes": (1) Piperites, in which the stem is central, gills _unchangeable_, naked, neither discolored nor _pruinose_, milk at first _white_ and _commonly acrid_; (2) Dapetes, in which the stem is central, gills naked, _milk from the first deeply colored_; (3) Russulares, in which the stem is central, gills pallid, _then discolored_, becoming darker, changing when turned to the light, at length _pruinose_, with milk at _first white_ and _mild_ and _sometimes becoming acrid_; (4) Pleuropos, in which the stem is concentric or lateral.

To the first of these subdivisions, _Piperites_, belong all of the Lactars enumerated above. The Russians eat the Piperites only after the water of the first boiling has been taken off.

Lactarius _rufus_ Scop., a very acrid species of large size, having reddish ochraceous gills and zoneless cap of reddish yellow with white milk, belongs to the subdivision Russulares. Common in fir woods. Dangerous.

Lactarius _volemus_ Fries, a tawny yellow-capped mushroom with white gills changing to a yellowish hue, and copious _sweet_ white milk, belongs also to the latter subdivision. Edible.

Russula (Fragiles) _emetica_ Fries. Cap fleshy, at first convex, then expanded or depressed, smooth, polished, red, margin sulcate; gills free, equal and broad, white; stem solid but somewhat spongy in the center, smooth, short, stoutish, white or stained reddish; flesh white, sometimes slightly tinted red, under the thin red cuticle. The cap of this mushroom varies from a deep rich crimson to a pale pinkish red, being very subject to atmospheric changes. Specimens are often found with the cap washed almost white after heavy rains, or with but a slight red spot in the center. The gills and spores are pure white, and the flesh peppery to the taste. If tasted when raw the juice should not be swallowed.

The variety _Clusii_ has a blood-red cap, pallid yellowish gills, adnexed, becoming adnate. Spores white. In woods. Acrid. The variety _fallax_ is fragile, with dingy reddish pileus and adnexed, distant, whitish gills.

Besides the above mentioned, there are other acrid Russulas and Lactars which are regarded with suspicion, though not as yet satisfactorily tested.

POISONOUS BOLETI.

Several of the Boleti have the reputation of being poisonous or deleterious, among them Boletus _luridus_, Boletus _Satanas_, and Boletus _felleus._ Kobert's analysis of B. _luridus_ shows the presence of the poisonous alkaloid muscarin in this mushroom, while the bitterness of B. _felleus_ should make one chary of eating it in quantity, if at all. Schmiedeberg and Koppe describe experiments made with Boletus Satanas, in which the symptoms experienced closely resemble those of muscarin poisoning.

A correspondent living in Georgia, who is quite familiar with the species, writes that he has frequently eaten the yellow form of the _muscaria_, when cooked, without serious inconvenience. Another correspondent writes that he has eaten the species Boletus luridus and Boletus Satanas, as well as several other mushrooms of poisonous repute, with perfect impunity.

Without calling in question the testimony of persons who state that they have with impunity eaten mushrooms generally found to be poisonous, it must be said that even if, through local conditions of soil or climate, the poisonous constituents of such mushrooms sometimes exist in comparatively minute proportions, or are _neutralized_ by an unusual proportion of _mushroom atropin_ in the plant, or eliminated by some process used in its preparation for the table, or, finally, if constitutional idiosyncrasies should enable some persons safely to eat what is poisonous to others, the rule that such are to be avoided should never be disregarded by the ordinary collector, nor should it be departed from even by experts, except upon the clearest evidence that in the given case the departure is safe. It is certainly the part of discretion, when in doubt, to take no risks.

RECENT INSTANCES OF MUSHROOM POISONING.

About a year ago a physician in Vineland, New Jersey, furnished the following in regard to his personal experience of the effects of mushroom poisoning: "My wife, daughter, and self selected, according to an article in the Encyclopedia Britannica, what we thought were a nice lot of mushrooms, cooked them in milk, and ate them for dinner with relish. In a few hours we were vomiting, laughing, and staggering about the house. We could not control ourselves from the elbows to the finger tips, nor our legs from the knee to the ends of our toes. In other words, we were drunk on mushrooms. The mushrooms grew within the shade of Norway spruce and other ornamental trees on the lawn in front of our house. They were pure white inside and out; smooth shiny tops that easily peeled off. The caps were about two or three inches in diameter, and had a stem of the same length. On the day before, my wife and a friend ate some of these mushrooms raw and experienced no bad effects. The next day at noon we ate them cooked in milk with a little butter, and they were very good. About two o'clock our food did not seem to digest well, and soon my daughter, sixteen years of age, vomited all her dinner. Then my wife began to feel the effects, and took hot water freely, sweet oil, currant wine, and at last an overdose of tartar-emetic. Of course, she was the sickest of all. I was cool and happy and amused at the situation, and drunk from my head down. I did not vomit, and my mushrooms remained with me for at least 48 hours. I took nothing but hot water and sweet oil. A friend of my daughter's of her own age partook of the mess and had not a single bad symptom."

A physician from West Grove, Pennsylvania, writes: "I determined to risk a test of the Amanita muscaria. Accordingly, two good-sized specimens were steamed in butter. I ate one, and another member of my family ate the other, feeling that the consequences could not be serious from so small an amount. About an hour after eating, a sensation of nausea and faintness was experienced in both cases, followed by nervous tingling, some cold perspiration and accelerated and weakened action of the heart. Considerable prostration ensued within two hours. Knowing that sulphate of atropin has proved the most successful remedy for the active principle of the Fly agaric, Amanita muscaria, a small dose, one-sixtieth of a grain, was taken by each. Considerable relief was experienced within 30 minutes, and all unpleasant symptoms had disappeared within 6 hours, without repeating the medicine."

Another case, wherein the antagonism of atropin for muscarin was demonstrated, was brought to our notice during the month of September of the past year. An entire party of people were badly poisoned by eating mushrooms, and, although a doctor was called in very late, most of them were saved by the use of sulphate of atropin.

It would seem from the foregoing cases that the intensity and action of the mushroom poison must depend in some degree on the constitution of the individual, as well as on the quality and quantity of the mushrooms eaten. The first treatment should be to get rid of the poison immediately and by every possible means, so as to prevent or at least arrest the progress of inflammation of the alimentary canal, and at the same time to prevent the absorption of the poison. In a majority of cases the recovery of the victim depends solely upon the promptness with which vomiting is excited. Vertigo, convulsions, spasms, and other grave nervous symptoms, which ordinarily follow the cessation of the most important functions, yield, ordinarily, to the action of an emetic without the necessity of ulterior remedies, if taken in time, while the substance is yet in the stomach; when it has entered the lower bowels purgation is necessary. Sweet oil should always be taken in combination with castor oil, or such other purgatives as are used. Enemas of cassia, senna, and sulphate of magnesia have also been used with good effect.

The fatal poisoning of Count Achilles de Vecchj, in November, 1897, by eating the Amanita muscaria, is so fresh in the public recollection, and the details in regard to it were so widely published through the newspaper press, that it is unnecessary to take up space in recapitulating the circumstances.

The death of Chung Yu Ting, in 1894, was occasioned by eating mushrooms which he had collected in a patch of woods near Washington, D. C., and which I identified at the time as Amanita phalloides, sometimes called the "Death Cup." He had eaten very freely of this mushroom and died after great suffering, although ten hours had elapsed before the toxic effects began to show themselves.

Since it has been shown that vinegar and the solution of common salt have the power to dissolve the alkaloids of the poisonous mushrooms, it follows that the liquor thus formed must be extremely injurious. It should, therefore, be obvious that vinegar and salt should not be introduced into the stomach after poisonous mushrooms have been eaten. The result would only be to hasten death. Ether and volatile alkali are also attended with danger. A physician should in all cases be promptly called, and, if muscarin poisoning is suspected, hypodermic injections of the sulphate of atropin, the only chemical antidote known to be efficacious, should be administered, the dose being from 1/180 up to 1/35 of a grain. Small doses of atropin can also be taken internally, to accelerate heart action. To relieve the pains and irritation in the abdomen sweet oil and mucilaginous drinks should be given.

BIBLIOGRAPHY--FUNGI.

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---- _Black-knot on Plum and Cherry Trees_. Illustrated.

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---- _Potato Blight and Rot_. Pages 118 to 123 and 251-253.

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---- _Fungoid Diseases of the Cranberry._ Page 206.

---- _Fungoid Diseases of the Plum and Cherry Trees._ Pages 119 and 413. An. Report Dept. of Agriculture, 1877.

---- Food Product Reports, Mushrooms, Edible and Poisonous. Annual Reports of U. S. Dept. Agriculture, 1885-1895.

---- Student's Handbook of Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous.

Watt, D. A. P. Provisional Catalogue of Canadian Cryptogams.

Bulletins of the Boston, New York, and Philadelphia Mycological Societies. Published in Boston, Mass., New York, N. Y., and Philadelphia, Penn., respectively.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

TOXICOLOGY OF MUSHROOMS.

Boudier, Emile. _Gazette des hop._ Paris. 1846.

---- Mushrooms Toxicologically Considered. Paris. 1869.

T. Husemann und A. Husemann. "Handb. der Toxicologie." Berlin. 1862.

Letellier and Speneux. "Experiences nouvelles sur les Champignons veneneux etc. Paris. 1866.

McIlvaine, Chas. Article on Amanita poisonings, Therapeutic Mag. Philadelphia, 1893.

Schmiedeberg and Koppe. "Das Muscarin Das Giftige Alkaloid des Fliegenpilzes." Leipzig. Verlag von F. C. W. Vogel. 1869.

Kobert, Rudolph. "Sitzungsberichte der Naturforscher-Gesellschafft." Dorpat, Russia. 1891-'92.

---- Lehrbuch der Intoxication. Stuttgard, Germany.

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.

No. 1.

Plate A. Agaricus (Psalliota) campester. Edible.
Plate B. Types of the Six Orders of Hymenomycetes.
Plate I. Russula virescens Fries. Edible.
Plate II. Coprinus comatus Fries. Edible.
Plate III. Marasmius oreades Fries. Edible.

No. 2.

Plate C. Types of four of the leading genera of Discomycetes, in
which occur edible species.
Plate D. Four types of the genus Morchella. Edible.
Plate IV. Outline sketches showing structure of the Agaricini.
Plate V. Lactarius deliciosus Fries. Edible.
Plate VI. Agaricus (Armillaria) melleus Vahl. Edible.
Plate VII. Cantharellus cibarius Fries. Edible.

No. 3.

Plate E. Outline sketches of various mushrooms.
Plate F. Outline sketches showing characteristics of the lamellae or
gills of mushrooms.
Plate VIII. Ag. (Hypholoma) sublateritius Fries. Edible.
Plate IX. Ag. (Hypholoma) incertus (Hypholoma incertum) Peck. Edible.
Plate X. Fistulina hepatica Bull. Edible.

No. 4.

Plate G. Six types of the Puff-Ball Group. Edible.
Plate H. Two types of the subdivision Phalloideae. Unwholesome.
Plate XI. Ag. (Lepiota) procerus Fries. (Lepiota procera.) Edible.
Plate XI. Ag. (Lepiota) naucinoides Peck. Edible.
Plate XI-1/2. Ag. (Lepiota) cepaestipes--var. cretaceus Peck (Lepiota
cretacea). Edible.
Plate XII. Cortinarius (Inoloma) violaceus. Linn.
Plate XII. Cortinarius (Phlegmacium) caerulescens Fries.
Plate XIII. Figs. 1 to 3, Ag. (Collybia fusipes) Bull. Edible.
Plate XIII. Figs. 4 to 6, Ag. (Collybia maculatus) A. & S. (Collybia
maculata). (After Cooke.) Edible.
Plate XIII. Figs. 7 to 9, Ag. (Collybia) velutipes Curt. (After Cooke.)

No. 5.

Plate J. Ag. (Pleurotus) ostreatus Jacq. Edible.
Plate XIV. Figs. 1 to 4, Ag. (Amanita) Caesareus Scop. (Amanita
Caesarea). Edible.
Plate XIV. Figs. 5 to 9, Ag. (Amanita) rubescens Pers. Edible.
Plate XIV-1/2. Ag. (Amanita) strobiliformis Vitt. Edible.
Plate XV. Figs. 1 to 7, Ag. (Amanita) muscarius Linn. (Amanita
muscaria). Poisonous.
Plate XV. Fig. 8, Ag. (Amanita) phalloides Fries. Poisonous.
Plate XV. Fig. 9, Ag. (Amanita) mappa Batsch. Poisonous.

CORRECTION OF PLATES.