126 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
spores of this Amanita are white. One should never gather 
specimens supposed to be Lepiota naucinoides or Agaricus 
campestris so rapidly or so inattentively as to overlook the 
presence of a volva at the base of the stem. The collection 
of “button” stages of Lepiota naucinoides is especially risky. 
There are one or two species of Amanita in addition 
to A. phalloides which are dangerously poisonous, but no 
mere printed description can be made explicit enough for an » 
amateur to be positive concerning their determination. 
Any white-spored form about which there is the slightest 
doubt should be referred to a student of the group for 
identification before it is used for food. 
POLYPORACEAE, HYDNACEAE, AND CLAVARIACEAE 
The Polyporaceae or pore fungi possess, instead of gills, 
a fruiting layer consisting of minute tubes, the mouths of 
which appear as countless pores. Some representatives pos- 
sess a central stem and characteristic cap but the great 
majority are of the stalkless, shelving type. The first-men- 
tioned are mostly fleshy, while the latter are usually the 
tougher bracket fungi, punks, etc., found upon stumps, 
logs, and trees, and too hard to be used for food. The 
genus Boletus is the most important edible form, includin 
many of the largest mushrooms of the type with a centra 
stem. The cap is thick and fleshy, with a pore-bearing 
layer easily separable from the general tissue. The color 
of the cap is predominantly red-brown. In Europe Boletus 
edulis, a large — with gray-brown or red-brown cap 
and white or yellowish pore surface, contributes more to 
the wild mushroom food supply than any other species. 
More than 750,000 of this fungus were sold in the city of 
Munich in the late summer and fall of 1901, practically 
all being collected in the Bavarian woodlands of that gen- 
eral region. The variety is believed to have furnished the 
fungi suilli, or mushrooms for common people, of Roman 
times. Boletus edulis is not so abundant in the United 
States, but related forms may occasionally be found in and 
about St. Louis. The species of Boletus are numerous and 
several are to be shunned, so that none of the fleshy, pore- 
bearing fungi should be eaten until definite information 
concerning them is obtained. 
In the Hydnaceae the fruiting surface is spread over 
spines or tooth-like structures instead of gills or pores. 
Some members of the group possess a central stalk and a 
true cap and perhaps the best of the edible species are of 
this character. In still other forms the definiteness of cap 
and stem are lost and the teeth are the main structures in 
