PorphyrosporsB 



Var. villa'ticus Brond. belonging to a villa. Cap scaly. Stem scaly. Agaricus. 



Var. hortensis Cke. growing in gardens. Cap brownish or yellow- 

 ish-brown, covered with fibrils or minute hairs. This is a cultivated 

 species. 



"Var. Bu'ckanni. Cap white, smooth, depressed in center, the mar- 

 gin naked. Stem stout. Ring thin, lacerated. A rare variety, some- 

 times occurring in mushroom beds. 



"Var. elongdius elongated. Long-stemmed variety. Pileus small, 

 smooth, convex, the margin adorned with the adherent remains of the 

 lacerated veil. Stem long, slender, slightly thickened toward the base. 

 Ring slight or evanescent. This is also a variety of mushroom beds. 



"Var. vapor a rhi s . Green-house variety (A. vaporarius Vitt. ) Pileus 

 brownish, coated with long hairs or fibrils. Stem hairy-fibrillose, be- 

 coming transversely scaly. Conservatories, cellars, etc. Not differing 

 greatly from Var. hortensis." Peck, 36th Rep. N. Y. State Bot. 



The A. campester is known the world over as the common mush- 

 room. It is cosmopolitan, appearing in pastures and rich places from 

 spring and until long after severe frosts. It is the sweet morsel of gour- 

 mets. Indirectly it has done more damage than the assembled vicious- 

 ness of all other toadstools. It is by mistaking the young button forms 

 of the deadly Amanita for the button forms of the common mushroom 

 that most cases of fatal toadstool poisoning are brought about. It is, 

 also, usually the persons who think they know the mushroom, and can 

 not be deceived, that get poisoned. If two rules are observed danger 

 can be avoided, (i) Never eat a fungus gathered in the woods be- 

 lieving it to be the mushroom. The typical A. campester does not 

 grow in the woods ; species of Agaricus somewhat resembling it do. 

 (2) Look at the gills; those of the mushroom are at first a light-pink 

 which rapidly, as the plant matures, darken to a dark-brown, purplish- 

 brown, or purplish-black. This is due to the ripening of the spores. 

 Those of the Amanita are constantly white. 



Pages could be written upon the mushroom and its culture, and reci- 

 pes for the cooking of it would fill a volume. One important thing is 

 omitted from them all it is culinary heresy to peel a mushroom. Much 

 of the flavor lies in the skin, as it does in that of apples, apricots, 

 peaches, grapes, cherries and other fruits. The mushroom should be 

 wiped with a coarse flannel or towel until the skin is clean. See chapter 

 on cooking, etc. 



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