108 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1896. 



roughened ; it has various popular names, as Beefsteak fungus, Ox 

 tongue, etc. This species, like most of those which grow upon trees, 

 is attached at the side, having no central stem. This mushroom has 

 even a closer resemblance than others to meat, both in appearance and 

 taste. 



A final small group I stated to carry its spores on spines projecting 

 from the under surface of the cap — Hydnum repandum, or Hedgehog 

 mushroom. This is not rare, and when slowly and thoroughly cooked 

 is said to be excellent eating, and to taste a little like oysters. 



I purposely passed over, in its proper place, a very important divi- 

 sion of mushrooms which bear white spores on gills, that I might 

 emphasize to the best of my ability some facts which must not be 

 forgotten or overlooked by all who attempt to collect mushrooms for 

 any purpose. The Amanitas are common in our woods, and very 

 conspicuous by their size and color. They are for the most part quite 

 inoffensive to smell and tase, but the majority of them are deadly 

 poison. They are probably the only really dangerous mushrooms we 

 are likely to meet; and I desire to present a short sketch of their 

 development and I hope to be able to fix in your memories the essen- 

 tial characters. 



My starting point is the underground plant, the mycelium ; of course 

 this originated from a spore, but that process has not yet been fol- 

 lowed. Little knots on the white fibres of the mycelium grow larger 

 and pear shaped, and at last are raised above the surface of the 

 ground. Each of these is to become a mushroom, and when cut 

 through, the undeveloped parts are easily to be distinguished. We 

 notice at the bottom a bulbous swelling, the stem rising from it bearing 

 the cap and the gills. But further we observe an enveloping mem- 

 brane fixed at the base and covering the cap. As the stem lengthens 

 this envelope or veil is torn ; part clings to the bulbous base, and part 

 to the cap. This is called the volva, and its remains ai'e to be detected 

 in the full grown amanita, and, taken with one or two other characters 

 serve to identify the deadly genus. The slide shows another little veil 

 on the stem ; this has its origin in a membrane connecting the edge of 

 the folded cap with the stem ; as the cap expands the membrane is 

 torn, and only a ring about the stem is left. 



If you remember that every mushroom having white spores on gills, 

 a little volva or veil on the stem, and the remains of a general volva at 

 its base is an amanita, I can promise that your investigation of 

 fungi will not lead you into serious peril. 



The volva at the base is usually described and pictured as if it were 



