Mushrooms, Fungi, or Toadstools 397 



large loose yellowish poison cup; the stem tapers above the 

 ring and at the base and is tinged reddish brown in the 

 middle. 



Fly Amanita (A. muscaria). (Poisonous.) About the 

 same size; mostly yellow but ranging from orange red to 

 almost white usually with raised white spot sor scales on the 

 top; gills white — or tinged yellow, spores white; flesh, white. 



Frost's Amanita {A. frostiana). (Poisonous.) This is 

 another gorgeous demon, small but brilliant and deadly. 

 It is two to three inches high, with the cap one to two inches 

 broad. The cap is brilliant scarlet, orange or yellow and 

 warty, fluted on the margin. The gills are white or tinged 

 yellow, the spores white; the stem white or yellow and the 

 bulb margined above with a smooth collar or ring. A 

 woodland specimen, no doubt responsible, Mcllvaine thinks, 

 for the bad reputation of the scarlet Russula which is harm- 

 less but resembles this. 



Tall Deathcup {A. excelsa). (Poisonous.) This tall 

 and lonely pirate of the beech woods is about four to six 

 inches in stature as it stands in its cup, and four to five 

 inches across the top which is brownish gray, fleshy and 

 sticky, often wrinkled and covered with tiny warts, edge of 

 cap fluted; gills white; stem covered with scales on its lower 

 parts at least. 



There are about twenty more of the Amanitas, varying in 

 size and color, but most have the general style of tall flat 

 mushrooms, and the label marks of poison viz: White or 

 yellow gills, a poison cup, and white spores. They are not 

 known to be poisonous. Some of them are good eating. 

 One of them, the 



King Cap or Royal Mushroom, {A. Caesarea), is said to 

 be the finest of all mushrooms. This magnificent and fa- 

 mous toadstool is three to eight inches across the cap which 

 is smooth and of a gorgeous red orange or yellow color; gills 



