EDIBLE FUNGI. g 



and the veins in their proper position as nearly as careful measure- 

 ments and manipulation for illumination was able to give them. It 

 will be noticed that the veins of the leaf do not all find their trace on 

 the clay, and a few were found on the imprint not seen on the 

 leaf. 



The heavier portions of the margin in the figure show the presence 

 of a supporting vein following the edge of the leaf. 



The leaf has not been determined, but is marked Magnolia (?). 

 It recalls the rare forms of Liriodendron shown in the Botanical 

 Gazette some months ago. 



The specimens are now in the Rutgers College Museum at this 

 place. 



New Brunswick, N. J. 



EDIBLE FUNGI. 



By Elizabeth G. Britto7i. 



SINCE the publication of Gibson's beautiful book on "Our Edible 

 Toadstools and Mushrooms," there has been a great awakening 

 of special interest in these plants. 



The rainy weather of last summer produced an abundant crop 

 of them, and from many summer resorts came letters of inquiry as to 

 how to distinguish the edible from the poisonous ones, and what books 

 to get in order to study them. In several of our large cities, notably 

 Boston, Philadelphia, and New York, there have been societies re- 

 cently organized for the systematic study of the fungi. 



The Boston Mycological Society has published a pamphlet for ten 

 cents, giving an account of the species eaten by them in 1896; the 

 Philadelphia Mycological Center was organized in April, 1897, and 

 has issued a Bulletin giving the names of its officers and members, 

 and stating that one of its objects is the dissemination among its 

 members of accurate descriptions of the edible and non-edible species 

 by monthly bulletins, and the best methods of cooking the edible 

 kinds. This club has been started under the auspices of Mrs. Rorer, 

 the well known writer and authority on cooking, and has for its presi- 

 dent Captain Charles Mcllvaine, who is known as "the first Myco- 

 phagist or Mushroom-eater in America, and probably in the world, if 

 number of varieties tested and found good is any criterion. His list 

 of those assuredly edible numbers nearly five hundred species, and 

 there are about three hundred more on the waiting list of his larder for 

 further experiment." 



