It is wry tuiijili, an<l opens by an irrcj^iilar niiiture or lacerated 

 aperture. It grows on the gnjuiul, citlicr in fields or thin woods, 

 and often jjersists throuah the winter in it> ln'own mature con- 

 dition. 



AVe liave two or three species of Sdcrodcnna or hard rind 

 putl"-i)alls, in which the tlesh, even in vounfi" plants, is not white, 

 but rather of bluish-black or purj)lisli-l)lack. These have not 

 been recorded as edible, and tliough they are not known to be 

 ]>oisonous, they <lo not come under the rule given for edible 

 pulMtalls, and sh(»uld be omitted entirely; yet ono corrfspondent 

 re)iorts liaving eaten them anil liking them. 



\\. :MOrvKLS AXD TIKLVELLAS. 



These belong to a large class called IJisconn/reteae, "disk 

 fungi." The spores are produced in thin mendjranous sacks 

 (usually eight in each), imbedded in the flesh of the upper or ex- 

 terior surface of the cap. This character is not easily seen with- 

 out a microscope. ComparatiA'ely few of the species are large 

 enough and tender enough for food. 



^forels are neither like pufl'-l)alls nor like uiushrooms. They 

 consist of a stem and a cap or head. Tlie cap, which is the spore- 

 bearing part, is either globose, oblong, conical or cylindrical in 

 shape, according to the species. But its most marked feature, 

 and the one by which morels are the most readily distinguished 

 fi'om nil other fungi, is foimd in the small depressions or cavities 

 which occupy its whole exterior surface, giving it a somewhat 

 honey-cond)ed or pitted appearance. The intervening ridges or 

 dissepiments are rather thick and blunt on the edge. In all our 

 species the caps are yellowish, butt' or ochraceous when fresh and 

 growing, but they usually assume darker or brownish hues as 

 they mature and begin to dry or decay. The stems are rather 

 stout, hollow, and white or whitish, sometimes tinged with yel- 

 low. They are not polished, but slightly roughened by numer- 

 ous minute branny ]iarticles. In some species the stems are often 

 shorter than the head or ca]). 



The species may be gTouped in two sections. In one, the low- 

 er margin of the head grows fast to the top of the stem; in the 

 other, it is free from the stem, as in the cap of the common mush- 

 room. In the former case the head is hollow, in the latter there 

 is a cavity beneath it, or rather an open space, between its mar- 



15 



