THE PLANT WOKLD 217 



iluid freely flows from it. The milk has a very sharp and pungent taste, 

 like that of red pei)per. - There are many kinds of milk mushrooms, 

 mostly having white milk, but one is called the indigo mushroom on 

 account of having an indigo blue color, and emitting when wounded an 

 indigo-colored milk. Nearh^ all the species of milk mushrooms are 

 edible, and the ijeppery taste is lost in cooking. 



The phosphorescent mushroom will never fail to attract the atten- 

 tion, even of the least intelligent observer. It has a deep yellow color, 

 and grows in bunches from the ground beside stumps and trees. One 

 bunch was found by the writer, on the Mt. Gretna hills, that contained 

 forty-two specimens. The most interesting feature of this is that its 

 splendor by day is highly magnified by night. In taking this bunch 

 into a dark room, its real wonder only became apparent ; it emitted 

 light enough on one occasion for us to read a book by its side. It is one 

 of the ghosts seen by superstitious people on dark nights, but harm- 

 less as all ghosts usually are. It also generates heat ; for when a ther- 

 mometer is placed in a bunch of these plants, a rise of several degrees 

 can be noticed on the scale, or on passing a hand through a large bunch 

 is like passing the hand over a warm stove. The only unpleasant fea- 

 ture about this wonder of nature is that it is slightly poisonous. 



Plate XXV, Fig. 2, represents the mushroom called Amanitaphal- 

 loides, which is a deadly poisonous one. It has apparently caused more 

 trouble than all the rest combined. It has a noble bearing, ring and volva 

 present, a white, yellowish or brownish hue, and is usually found grow- 

 ing where the environments for mushrooms are good. Very often it 

 intrudes upon the grounds of the good varieties and thus those who are 

 not careful enough or are unacquainted with the foe, get it mixed with 

 the good species. Thus, again heed our advice : Never collect mushrooms 

 for eating until j^ou are perfectly acquainted with the one or ones you 

 are collecting, and never collect one with both a ring and a volva. Let 

 not this precaution deter you from a study of the wonderful world of 

 mushrooms, however. Men are either good or bad, but the fact that some 

 men are bad is by no means a reason for us to shun all humanity and 

 not mingle with the good. The same argument can be presented for 

 mushrooms. 



A mushroom reproduces itself by spores. These spores are very 

 numerous in one plant — millions of spores being found in each plant, 

 and should they all germinate, our forests would be covered with one 

 mass of these fleshj'- organisms. The spores drop to the ground, are 

 washed about and down into the earth. They remain in the ground for 

 one year, during which time they germinate, push forth cell by cell until 

 a very intervoven and intricate net work or fibrous mass is formed. Upon 

 this mass, which covers considerable ground, is forced a little bulb or 



