Mushrooms and Toadstools 49 



when Henry stopped him and said they looked like 

 one of the good kinds. "I thought they were frog- 

 stools," said William. "I've seen some like them 

 growing in the pastures at home, but they didn't 

 look like they were fit to eat." 



*' I never ate any mushrooms myself," replied Hen- 

 ry, " but I've wanted to try some ever since my teach- 

 er took me up to the Botanical Garden one Saturday 

 afternoon to hear a lecture on edible and poisonous 

 mushrooms. It was illustrated with beautiful col- 

 ored lantern slides of all the poisonous kinds and 

 many of the edible ones; and I was surprised to learn 

 that so few were poisonous. The worst ones have 

 a sort of cup at the bottom of the stem called the 

 'death-cup,' by which they are easily recognized; 

 while most of the other poisonous kinds simply make 

 you sick without killing you." 



'*I don't mind being made a little sick," said Will- 

 iam. "Suppose we try eating some; it would be 

 great sport." So they got out their knives and 

 carefully cut off a number of the delicate white caps 

 that were still pink underneath and took them in to 

 Edna to fry. She was glad to get a new dish, but 

 was afraid to eat much of them, claiming that they 

 tasted like rotten wood. 



"Don't you like mushrooms?" said William, who 



