3 72 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



latter localities, the writer considers it best to avoid their 

 products. A very good point, in the second place, is the 

 peculiar intense purple-brown color of the spore-dust, from 

 which the ripe mushroom derives this same color (almost 

 black) in the gills. To see these spores, it is only necessary 

 to remove the stem from the mushroom, and lay the upper 

 portion, with the gills downward, on a sheet oi writing-pa- 

 per, when the spores will be deposited, in a dark, impalpable 

 powder, in a short time. Several dangerous species, some- 

 times mistaken for the true, have the spore umber-brown, or 

 pale umber-brown. 



In the true mushroom, again, there is a distinct and perfect 

 collar, quite encircling the stem, a little above the middle, 

 and the edge of the cap overlaps the gills. In some poison- 

 ous species this collar is reduced to a mere fringe, and the 

 overlapping margin is absent, or reduced to a few white scales. 

 Lastly, the gills never reach to nor touch the stem, there be- 

 ing a space all around the top of the stem where the gills 

 are free from the stalk. 



There are numerous varieties of true mushrooms, all of 

 them equally good for the table. Sometimes the top is white 

 and soft like kid leather ; at other times it is dark brown and 

 scaly. Sometimes, on being cut or broken, the mushroom 

 changes color to yellow, or even blood-red; at other times 

 no change whatever takes place. To sum up, it is to be ob- 

 served that the mushroom always grows in pastures; always 

 has dark, purple-brown spores ; always has a perfect encir- 

 cling collar; and always has gills which do not touch the 

 stem, and has a top with an overlapping edge. 



In addition to the method just indicated for testing the 

 genuineness of mushrooms, we are informed that, however 

 much any particular fungus may resemble the eatable mush- 

 room, none are genuine nor safe the skin of which can not be 

 easily removed. When taken by the thumb and finger at the 

 overlapping edge, this skin will peel upwards to the centre 

 all around, leaving only a small portion of the centre of the 

 crown to be pared off by the knife. 18 A, December 8, 1871, 

 297, and December 22, 1871, 353. 



