323 HO W THE FALSE MA Y BE KNO WJST. 



But some cryptogamists are unwilling to recognise the orange 

 mushrooms (les oronges), whether true or false, as Agarics. 

 They place them in a separate genus, the genus Amanita, 

 though without informing us where they found the name. 

 Meanwhile, they justify the formation of the new genus by the 

 presence of the white swelling, the volva, or wrapper, of the 

 mycelium, or spawn, which entirely covers both the true and 

 the false mushroom on its emergence from the earth. Each, 

 then, is an Amanita. But now remark their specific difference. 

 The true mushroom, as it develops, ruptures its ovoid wrapper, 

 or volva, leaving the remains entirely at the base of the 

 pedicel ; while, in the false mushroom, the debris of the volva 

 are formed, not only at the base of the pedicel, as in the real 

 Agaric, but even upon the red surface of the pileus itself: 

 these are the white irregular warts characteristic of the Amanita, 

 but wholly wanting in the Agaricus. Thus, there are two 

 Amanitas : the Amanita muscaria, or " fly agaric," and the 

 Amanita aurantiaca, or, as the English botanists call it, Agaricus 

 Ccesareus, the imperial mushroom. 



This fanciful " study " in nomenclature has the advantage of 

 initiating us into the most essential distinctive characters of 

 the two species in question. However, a few additional de- 

 tails are necessary to complete our history. 



THE FLY AGARIC, OR AMANITA MUSCARIA. 

 The species seems to have been expressly created to teach 

 our gourmands the necessity of vigilance ; that before enjoying 

 a dainty they must first learn to distinguish, under penalty of 



