VARIOUS FARM PRODUCTS 567 



tion may last from eight to ten hours in milder cases, and one or two 

 days in more serious cases. Death follows in from eighteen hours to 

 two or three days, from a gradual weakening and a final stoppage of 

 the heart's action. There is very little danger of finding either the 

 fly amanita or the death cup (the best known name for either is 

 toadstool) mixed with the meadow mushrooms sold by regular deal- 

 ers or brought into market by people who make it a business to do so, 

 but diligence should be maintained by market inspectors in scrutiniz- 

 ing all new kinds of fungi brought in for general sale. 



Death Cup (Amanita phalloides). This is another variety of 

 the toadstool. It is not so large or brightly colored as the fly amanita, 

 but is nevertheless decidedly attractive to the inexperienced and ex- 

 perimenting epicure. When fresh it has neither a disagreeable odor 

 nor taste, nor has it any ill appearance due to the presence of larvae. 

 It grows from 3 to 6 or 8 inches high, and has a smooth, satiny cap, 

 which is strongly convex at first, finally becoming flat or slightly con- 

 cave. It is usually white or straw-colored, but may be green, light 

 brown, yellow, or even spotted when found growing in dense shade. 

 The stem is white and nearly smooth. The cup is, however, invari- 

 ably present. In connection with the white gills and spores and the 

 bulbous base, it is the distinguishing feature of the species. In general 

 shape the death cup is somewhat like the common mushroom, but it 

 is very much more like another species, the smooth lepiota (Lepiota 

 naucina) , which is considerably sought after by expert epicures. The 

 lepiota, like the death cup, has a smooth, satiny cap, white gills, and 

 white spores, but it is distinguished by the absence of a sheathing cup 

 and by the ball-and-socket attachment of the stem to the cap, as well 

 as by its occurrence chiefly in meadows. From the common mush- 

 room the death cup may be at once distinguished by its cup, by its 

 white gills and spores, and by its growing in woods instead of in 

 meadows. The death cup is the most poisonous of all the fleshy 

 fungi. In a few instances the mere handling of the plant causes 

 serious trouble. A third part of an uncooked medium-sized cap 

 proved fatal to a boy 12 years of age. The symptoms are character- 

 istic; no bad taste warns the victim, and usually the first effects do 

 not appear until from nine to fourteen hours after eating. There is 

 then considerable pain, and there may be cramps in the legs and other 

 nervous phenomena, such as convulsions and even lockjaw. In a few 

 cases there are spasms. The pulse is weak and either quick or slow 

 in its action. The pupils of the eyes are sometimes dilated. The 

 abdominal pain is rapidly followed by nausea, vomiting, and extreme 

 diarrhea, the discharges assuming the peculiar "rice water" condition 

 characteristic of cholera. The latter symptoms are persistently 

 maintained, generally without loss of consciousness, until death en- 

 sues, as it does in from two to four days. The vernal amanita or de- 

 stroying angel {Amanita verna) is regarded by some experts as 

 identical with the death cup. It has the same poisonous action. 



American False Hellebore (Veratrum viride). American 

 white hellebore; white hellebore; false hellebore: swamp hellebore; 

 Indian poke; meadow poke; poke root (in N. H.) ; Indian uncus; 



