150 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULl URAL SOCIETY. 



to add that a poisonous fungus does not always declare itself 

 for a considerable number of hours, and, moreover, the results 

 of making a mistake in this connection are so excessively 

 unpleasant that M. Broilliard's plan cannot really be 

 recommended. The story merely illustrates the fact that 

 there are no certain rules vi^hereby to recognise a safe fungus. 

 This is the moral of an article on fungi by H. A. in the 

 Bulletin de Fratiche Comte et Belfort. 



When the spore begins to grow it forms a network of filaments 

 (mycelium) out of sight, whether underground or under the 

 surface of wood, green or dry. In passing, it may be 

 mentioned, that one may occasionally see a tree, of whatever 

 size, wither away without apparent cause for a long time until 

 one day, perhaps a year later, the fungus shows itself on the 

 outside of the bark. This hidden period may be one of days, 

 weeks, months, or years. There are fungi (like the truffle) 

 which never appear above the surface. When the sporophore 

 does appear it grows fast as a rule. In the ordinary umbrella- 

 shaped kinds, the part in sight consists of an upright stem (stipe) 

 supporting a flattened, curved, or bell-shaped crown, of which 

 the upper side is merely a protective case (the pileus), while 

 the under side {gills) carries the spores. At first this under side 

 is covered with a veil extending from the edges of the pileus 

 to the stipe, but eventually it tears away, and either disappears 

 or remains as a ragged fringe, or ring, round the stipe. Some- 

 times another similar fringe is found at the base of the stipe. 

 This is the remains of the volva, which originally covered 

 the whole of the above-ground fungus, till it was torn 

 through. 



As stated above, there are no rules to show whether a 

 fungus is edible or not. Thus it is quite untrue to say, as 

 some do, that a ring shows a safe mushroom — some poisonous 

 and some edible ones have a ring. To say that a fungus 

 which does not change colour when broken is a good one, is 

 an error; there are good ones that change colour, and also 

 bad ones which do not. Another mistake is to suppose that 

 a silver spoon, or a gold ring, does not turn black when 

 placed in a receptacle in which an edible fungus is being cooked. 

 One sometimes hears the mistaken notion that if a white onion, 

 without its outer sheath, is put into a cooking pot in which 

 is a poisonous fungus the onion will turn blue or brown, but 



