2 2 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



always be observed. Having found your mushroom 

 or toadstool, cut off the stem as close as possible to 

 the gills, then place the pileus, with the gills down- 

 wards, on a piece of paper, and let them remain for 

 a few hours, or throughout the night. When re- 

 moved, a very fine dust will be observed to have 

 been thrown down on the paper from the gills. This 

 dust consists of the spores (or seeds) of the fungus, 

 which were produced on the naked gills, and have 

 fallen when mature. This deposit of spores will 

 either be white, salmon-coloured, brown, or tawny, 

 dark brown, or black. In the common mushroom, 

 for instance, they are of a dark purple brown. A 

 great number of species which have purple brown 

 spores are edible, whilst it is very rare indeed for a 

 species with salmon-coloured spores to be worth eat- 

 ing, and some are poisonous. The colour of the gills, 

 and of the spores, are of considerable importance, and 

 must be taken into account in determining a fungus. 



When collecting fungi it is advisable to take into 

 account where they were found growing, whether in 

 woods, or in open lawns and pastures, because those 

 which are found in woods are not found in the 

 '' open," and vice versa. Again, those which habitually 

 grow on rotting stumps and decayed trees, are to be 

 rarely found elsewhere. Very few good edible species 

 are to be found growing on trees. 



There is an erroneous opinion extant, especially in 

 rural districts, that all fungi which are good to eat 



