12 



Mycopbag-ists generally concur in the opinion that it is of very pleas- 

 ant flavor when cooked, and some speak very enthusiastically of its escu- 

 lent qualities. 



Over-cooking is apt to make it tough. I find steaming in the oven 

 with butter, pepper, and salt, and a very small quantity of water, as 

 oysters are steamed, a very good method of preserving the juices and 

 flavor. 



It is found in Maryland, under the pines and sometimes in mossy and 

 swampy places. Prof. Underwood, President of the New York Myco- 

 logical Club, reports it as fairly abundant in Connecticut. 



Lactarius volemus Fries, the " Orange-Brown Lactar," somewhat re- 

 sembles the L. deliciosus in shape and size, but the cap is dry and glabrous 

 and the skin is apt to crack in patches in somewhat the same manner as 

 does that of the Russula virescens. It is a warm orange-brown in color, 

 varying slightly with age, and is not zoned. The gills are white or yel- 

 lowish and crowded, adnate in the young specimens, and decurrent in the 

 mature, exuding a white milk when bruised. The spores are globose, and 

 white. It is found in open woods. The flavor is much like that of 

 L. deliciosus, although perhaps not so rich. 



One author states it as his experience that the Lactars which have 

 bright-coloved milk, unchanging, are usually edible and have a mild taste. 

 L. indigo Schwein has been recorded as less abundant than some other 

 species, but edible. The plant is a deep blue throughout, the milk of the 

 same color and unchanging. The taste of both flesh and milk is mild. 

 Specimens of this species were sent to me from western New York 

 several years ago by a correspondent who found it growing in quantities 

 In a corn field. He had cooked several dishes of it, and reported its 

 flavor as very agreeable. 



L. vellereus AndJj. 2yi2^eratus are very common in fir woods. The plants 

 are large and stout, white throughout, the milk white and excessively 

 acrid ; gills decurrent, unequal and narrow. The milk in vellereus is apt 

 to be scanty but copious in piperatus. 



Of 1j. piperatus, Woxihmgion Smith says: "So strongly acrid is the 

 milk that if it be allowed to trickle over tender hands it will sting like 

 the contact of nettles ; and if a drop be placed on the lips or tongue the 

 sensation will be like the scalding of boiling water." He records it as 

 " poisonous." Fries and Curtis say that, " notwithstanding its intense 

 acridity, it is edible when cooked." Cordier, while recording it as edible, 

 says thac the milk, and butter made from the milk of cows fed with it, are 

 bitter and nauseous, although cows eat it with avidity. Gibson, while 

 quoting one or two authors as to its edibility when cooked, says : " Its 

 decidedly ardent tang warns me not to dwell too enthusiastically upon 

 its merits in a limited selection of desirable esculents." The Secretary 

 of the Boston Mycological Club, writing in the Club bulletin, says 

 " it has been eaten as a sort of duty after the acridity was cooked out," 



