180 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [8 :o— May, 1912 



must be toadstools and not mushrooms." Well, we shall not 

 quarrel about that, but you see, a mushroom-expert knows that 

 there are hundreds of kinds, and that of these a great many 

 kinds can be eaten without harm if one's digestion is normally 

 good, and hence he makes no difference between mushrooms and 

 toadstools, but calls them all "mushrooms." Some are poison- 

 ous, some are bitter, some are too small to eat, some are tough 

 or woody, others too dirty-looking, and yet there still remain 

 enough kinds that are good to eat to keep him supplied from 

 Spring till the snow covers the ground. 



And so we can take trips into the woods and fields all sum- 

 mer long and way into the autumn after the frosts. If there is 

 plenty of rain we will find more and more mushrooms as the sea- 

 son advances. In September, especially, if we go to the right 

 places, such as woods which are hilly and have little ravines, and 

 streams running down in them, we may often fill our baskets with 

 twenty or more kinds in one afternoon. In fact, there are so 

 many kinds it would take a large book to tell all about them. 

 Some of them are beautifully colored, and especially in the sum- 

 mer or fall mushrooms can easily be found whose caps may be 

 red, yellow, blue, green, brown or all shades of these colors ; 

 and if you like to paint you will find no prettier objects for 

 your pencil. 



So far we have only spoken of those mushrooms which have 

 an umbrella-shaped cap. But there are still some with other 

 kinds of shapes, which we can do no more than mention. For 

 instance, there is the "Puff-ball." The little balls, hardly an 

 inch in diameter, which sometimes come up on your lawn and 

 which are white when they are youns^. inside as well as outside, 

 but become filled with a brown or olive dust when old and dry, 

 are puff-balls. In the ]:)astures you will find some which are 

 as large as a croquet-ball, and if you hunt long enough thru the 

 woods you may find the "Giant Puff-ball" which grows as large 

 or larger than your head. All these are pure white inside when 

 they are young, and you can always eat the puff-balls as long 

 as they are pure white on the inside, nor will you be able to 

 make any mistake if you first break them open to see that the 

 interior is uniform in appearance. Later the inside becomes 

 dark-colored and powdery from the spores, and when you press 

 on them you can then see the "puff." 



If we go mushroom-hunting ([uite early, say the beginning 

 of May, we may find the "Morel." This has a stout hollow stem, 

 with a peculiar, globular, conical or c\'lindrical top, whose sur- 



