Insects and Mushrooms 



food as this would have a singularly bad time 

 before him. Well, that stomach the vermin 

 possess : they revel in the pungency of the 

 woolly milk-mushroom even as the Spurge- 

 caterpillar browses with delight on the loath- 

 some leaves of the euphorbias. As for us, we 

 might as well, in either case, eat live coals. 



Is a condiment of this kind necessary to the 

 grubs? Not at all. Here, in the same pine- 

 woods, is the "delicious" milk-mushroom 

 {Lactarius deliciosiis, lin.) , a glorious orange- 

 red crater, adorned with concentric zones. If 

 bruised, it assumes a verdigris hue, possibly 

 a variant of the indigo tint peculiar to the blue- 

 turning boleti.. From its flesh laid bare by 

 being broken or cut ooze blood-red drops, a 

 well-defined characteristic peculiar to this 

 milk-mushroom. Here the violent spices of 

 the woolly milk-mushroom disappear; the 

 flesh has a pleasant taste when eaten raw. No 

 matter: the vermin devour the mild milk- 

 mushroom with the same zest with which they 

 devour the horribly peppered one. To them 

 the delicate and the strong, the insipid and the 

 peppery are all alike. 



The epithet 'delicious' applied to the mush- 

 room whose wound weeps tears of blood is 

 highly exaggerated. It is edible, no doubt, 



417 



