REPORT ON EDIBLE KUNG] 1895-99 



/ / 



beautiful when fresh and young-, but with age and in drying it assumes 

 creamy white, yellowish or pale alutaceous hues. It has sometimes been 

 referred to H y d n u m c a p ut-medusae by American mycologists, but its 

 branching character and the entire absence of grayish or cinereous colors 

 forbid such a reference. 



It usually forms masses from 2 to 6 inches thick and high, but it some- 

 times greatly exceeds these dimensions. It grows on dead or decaying 

 wood of deciduous trees, specially of beech and birch, and is mostly found in 

 woods in summer and autumn. 



This species is not classed among the edible mushrooms by European 

 mycologists, and Prof. Fries says that its substance is tough and dry, and 

 that he would scarcely think it edible. My own experiments with it lead me 

 to think it less tender and savory than the coral-like hydnum, still it is agree- 

 able, digestible and harmless and much better than some species that are 

 generally considered very good. Its great mass of firm flesh, free from 

 larvae, clean, white and attractive, gives it value and importance which it 

 would not otherwise have. It may be made specially useful to parties camp- 

 ing in the Adirondack wilderness, who may have become tired of the ordi- 

 nary fare of the camp or who may be running short of supplies. By cutting- 

 it in thin slices it can easily be dried and preserved for future use. 



Craterellus cantharellus (Sc/itv.) Fr. 



Chaxtarelle Craterellus 



PLATE i(>, _/'/,'. iy-2' 



Pileus fleshy, firm, convex, often becoming centrally depressed or infun- 

 dibuliform, glabrous, yellow or pinkish yellow, flesh white ; hymenium nearly 

 even, slightly wrinkled, yellow ; stem glabrous, solid, yellow ; spores subel- 

 liptic, .0003 to .0004 of an inch long, .0002 to .00025 broad. 



The chantarelle craterellus resembles the true chantarelle so closely in 

 size, shape and color that it might at first sight easily be thought to be an 

 imperfectly developed form of it. The color is yellow as in that plant, but 

 sometimes there is a slight pinkish tint to the cap, and a faint shade of 

 salmon or orange to the spore bearing or under surface of the cap. Its 

 chief distinctive feature is found here, for, instead of the blunt-edged, branch- 



