210 Mycological Bulletin Xc. 53 [Vol. TV 



"QUOTATION PAGE." 



Quotation — In the introductory part of the jNIushroom Book we find 

 the following" readable paragraphs by Nina L. Marshall : 



"Although for centuries it has been known that some fungi contain 

 most virulent poisons. stiH, through ignorance of those points which dis- 

 tinguish the poisonous from the edible, frequent cases of poisoning occur 

 in all classes of society. The mistakes resulting in death have been fre- 

 quent enough to inspire the timid with an overpowering dread of all fungi, 

 while the damp and grewsome places in which many fungi flourish have 

 caused them to be despised by others. The following lines from Shelley 

 very aptly express the general sentiment : 



"And plants, at whose names the verse feels loath, 



Fill'd the place with a monstrous undergrowth, 



Prickly and pulpous, and blistering and blue, 



Livid, and starr'd with a lurid dew. 



"And agarics and fungi, with mildew and mould, 



Started like mist from the wet ground cold; 



Pale, fleshy, as if the decaying dead 



With a spirit of growth had been animated." 



Shelley: "The Sensitive Plant." 



"To many people the only growths known as fungi are toadstools and 

 mushrooms. They give the name mushrooms to the species known to 

 them as edible, and regard all other similar growths as toadstools, things 

 uncanny or poisonous. 



"The grisly todestool grown there mought I see, 



And loathed paddocks (toads) lording on the same." 



.Spenser's "Faerie Queene." 



"This distinction has no scientific basis, and in fact most of the species 

 called toadstools are edible. Fungi are not always the grewsome things 

 of Shelley and Spenser. In their ranks are many which delight the eye 

 with their colouring and the symmetry of their forms, 'lliey are the gro- 

 tesques of nature; nests, hoods, cups, umbrellas, shells, and clubs are rep- 

 resented, together with spheres, hemispheres, cones, and many other ge- 

 ometrical figures. The mildew on the linens, the mould on food, the rusts 

 and smuts which blight our fields of grain, and the dry rot which crumbles 

 our lumber to dust and which causes old wood in dark places to glow with 

 a wierd, pale, flickering light, are all forms of one group or another of 

 these plants which prey upon living or dead organic matter. In ordinary 

 observation, only the simpler and more noticeable fungi are taken into 

 account, but they .ire in reality met with in almost every situation imag- 

 inable. They are found in damp cellars and in rooms shut oflf from the 

 light; in fact, some form of fimgus will be found in every place and on 

 everything which is not exposed to a circulation of fresh air. 



"In woods and open fields the attractive forms are found. In shady 

 woods the beautiful white 'bear's head' hangs on statelv tree trunks, and 

 the 'destroying angels' gleam white in the shadows on the ground. Shelv- 

 ing brackets, green or red or brown, encircle old stumps, or stand out stiff 

 and white ^rom the crumbling trunks of fallen moss-grown monarchs of 

 the forest, while wood-brown toadstools huddle in groups among the fallen 

 leaves. On the outskirts of the v/ood. green and red Russida vie with the 

 flowers in the brilliancy of their colouring. Pirk or violet Clavarias, 

 dainty coraU. border the wood path, and golden Clavarias ligliten up the 

 .somber wood tints with their yellow branches. In drv pastures and along 

 wood roads. p:iff-balls. large and small, send up their puffs of brown 

 stnoke, to the delight of every passing child who strikes them with a wand. 

 On lawns and hillsides the Orcades cause fairy rings to grow. The f-n'ry 

 rings are circles, or parts of circles, of impoverished grass of a lighter 

 colour and less luxuriant giowth than that of the grass immediately sur- 

 rounding the circle. Before the existence of fairy folk came to be doubted, 

 it was firmly believed that these fairy rings were the dancing grounds of 



the fairies. 



"The nimble elves 

 That do by moonshine preen sour ringlets make 

 Wherof Ihf ewe bitps not; whose pastime 'lis 

 To make these midnight mushrooms." 



Rev. Gerard Smith. 

 [Nina T-. Marshall, the Mushroom Book]. 



