72 Rhodora [MARCH 
Russula fragilis (Pers.) Fr. has been found from time to time, but 
always of small size and with the lamellae too crowded to be regarded 
as A. emetica. 
On October 14 last I collected Russula emetica in ample quantity in 
a sphagnum bog on Grand View Mt., Vt. The specimens were grow- 
ing scattered about in sphagnum under the small trees and bushes 
which thinly cover the marginal portions of the bog. The habitat is so 
peculiar that, if characteristic, it may be of aid in locating this species 
elsewhere. f 
The specimens were as watery as an Hygrophorus when collected and 
very fragile: pileus 5-8 cm. diameter, viscid, depressed, margin at 
length somewhat sulcate, cuticle separable ; flesh white, red beneath 
the cuticle, very acrid ; stem white, softer within, firm at first ; lamellae 
white, remaining white, subdistant, free or adnexed, equal, edge not 
eroded ; spores white, echinulate. — E. A. Burr, Middlebury, Vermont. 
Dr. Burt’s Nore ON RussuLa EmeTICA should receive attention 
from the many collectors of toadstools, who, without study of the in- 
conspicuous differences which separate one member of the genus from 
another, are prone to apply the name of this particular species to any 
red Russula with an acrid taste — or at least to any that may at the 
same time be viscid, red, and acrid. So used, the name of Russula 
emetica commonly serves as a convenient designation for those speci. 
mens that in the process of sorting out such as are fit for eating are 
discarded on account of their taste. The real Russula emetica is 
doubtless known to few, though it is, after Amanita, perhaps the most 
frequently mentioned of noxious species. 
As to its edible possibilities (and such possibilities nowadays seem 
to attract mycophagists even more keenly than established actualities) 
there is in the records much difference of opinion. Uncooked, how- 
ever, acrid Russulas are certainly poisonous ; yet there is good weight 
of evidence that they may be so treated as to be harmless. 
Even the tasting process has its discomforts, if not its dangers, in the 
case of these acrid Russulas. Some years ago the writer was one of an 
active party that brought well-filled baskets out of the Holliston (Mass.) 
woods. During the drive to the railway station one of the ladies oc- 
cupied herself in sorting her red-topped Russulas — in the approved 
way. Her basket was large and her collection ample, most of the 
specimens being of acrid sorts. By the time the station was reached 
