i6 



therefore very deadly. On the other hand we have another 

 Amanita [strohiliformk] a very large Fungus which is most 

 wholesome and delicious; again Amanita vaginatus is 

 good and wholesome. I may say that the poison of Amanita 

 may take a whole day before it begins to act, but then 

 proceeds most rapidly ; its venom is also absorbed by the skin 

 when laid or rubbed upon it with precisely the same results 

 as when swallowed. 



In the sub-genus Russula, we again find noxious and 

 innocent species intermixed. Russula heterophylla, with white 

 gills and solid ringless stem, having a cap varying from green 

 to purple in colour and known by its sweet nutty flavour is 

 excellent eating; so is Russula alutacea, with buff gills and 

 red or pale crimson caps, but on the other hand some species 

 are very noxious. For instance, Russula sanguinea and 

 Russula emetica (which at first sight is very similar to 

 R. alutacea.) The poison is narcotico-acrid in character, 

 when externally applied the juice is harmless in so far that 

 although it will produce outward inflammation, it exhibits no 

 toxical effects whatever through absorption, its effects thus 

 differing directly from those produced by Amanita. 



The sub-genus Lactarius contains some wholesome and 

 several most noxious species ; from all of them alike a milky 

 juice exudes when the cap is broken. The name deliciosus 

 applied to a. Lactarms, which is always found in fir plantations, 

 speaks for itself. Lactarius volemum, rich in colour with buff 

 gills, when fried resembles lamb's kidney, but these are the 

 only safe species. Beware of Lactarius rufus, " the slayer ' 

 as it is called, the most deadly of all, with its chestnut 

 coloured polished cap and corrosive white juice, this also is 

 found in fir woods. Its action is different from that of Russula 

 or Amanita — a very small quantity of it kills immediately ; 

 the poison being violently irritant, producing inflammation 

 and ulceration of the intestines, and causing so much agony 

 that death is welcomed. 



The whole of the sub-genus Hypholoma is very baneful ; 

 H. fasicularis is the commonest of all Agarics, growing 



