kacffman] mushrooms 179 



separating the pasture from the woods, we will walk along its 

 edge, and if it is late enough, say the Fourth of July, we may 

 suddenly come upon some mushrooms which are pure white, or, 

 perhaps, they may have a sort of smoky-brown cap and be 

 white on the gills. But the snow-white ones look the prettiest. 

 They have long and rather stout stems, too, and look as if 

 they were not afraid of being picked, instead of hiding close 

 to the ground like the meadow mushroom. We look at them 

 carefully before picking them, because it is a shame to spoil 

 such beautiful objects. Their white, rather large caps are ex- 

 panded and the gills are pure white. The stems seem to have 

 thin curtain-like rings near the top, and if we bend over close 

 to the ground we may see the stem sunk into what looks like 

 a cup. If we dig deep enough and carefully lift the stem and 

 cup from the ground we can see that there is actually a sort 

 of thimble-shaped white sheath around the bottom of the stem. 

 And now we know that this beautiful mushroom is one of the 

 poisonous Amanitas and that if we eat it we invite death in the 

 terrible form of convulsions. The same is true of the one with 

 the smoky-brown cap if we should find it, for it also has white 

 gills, a curtain-like ring and a cup on the stem. Fig. -4 shows 

 the white Amanita which is sometimes called the "Destroying 

 Angel." There is also a large yellow Amanita as well as some 

 small yellow ones, which are equally dangerous. We now wrap 

 our white specimen carefully in tissue paper so that when we 

 place it in our basket with those we are going to eat the pieces 

 may not become mixed with the good ones. In this way it is 

 perfectly safe to pick them and take them home to show to our 

 friends. 



And if we now climb the fence into the woods, we mav be 

 able to find quite a few more of the poisonous kinds, as well as 

 a great many others which grow abundantly in the woods during 

 rainy weather. In fact, we may find so many diflFerent kinds 

 that it will be well not to try to learn them all at once. It is 

 much better to learn a few kinds at a time and become thor- 

 oughly acquainted with them before going further; and if we 

 are going to eat them, it is well to go slowly and keep on safe 

 ground. Many people have rules, which they believe in, to 

 separate the edible from the poisonous. But beware of rules. 

 They all have exceptions. ^Mushroom rules are not any safer 

 than would be a rule which said that all people with black hair 

 make good friends. 



"But," I hear some one say. "if they are poisonous then they 



