COMMON MUSHROOMS OF THE UNITED STATES 



389 



,„,* — • COTHUf^r'ATA 



FROSTJAN.A MUSCARIA STROBILIFORM-S p^r^^^lKlN^ 



SPRETA 



P/fALLOlDES 



PHALLOlPES 



VAIV. CITRINA 



PHALLOIDES 



PHALLOIDES 

 VAR. VIR09A 



PHALLOJDES 



the: DANGKR SIGNAI.S, OR DKATII-CUPS, WHICH NATURE PLACES ON THE BASES OR 

 UNDERGROUND PORTIONS OE THE AMANITA SPECIES 



The death-cup is technically known as the volva and at first encloses the entire plant 

 just as the egg-shell does the egg. As the plant grows the stem lengthens, and in doing this 

 ruptures the bag. The illustration shows how the death-cup, or volva, differs in structure 

 with the various species of Amanita. There are two distinct types of death-cups, the bag-like 

 type (Nos. lo and ii), and the more or less fragile, crumbling, or scaly type (Nos. i, 2, and 

 3). Both types are subject to variation, the variations being characteristic for different 

 species or groups of species. Number 7 represents a diaboHcal attempt on the part of one 

 Amanita to camouflage its identity, both bulb and bag-like volva being difficult to discern. 

 A reduction of the ''friable" (crumbling) type of volva is seen in No. i, only a few grains 

 being left to tell the tale, and sometimes even these are absent. When absent from the bulb^ 

 however, they are usually to be found on the ground, leaves, twigs, or needles immediately 

 surrounding the base, or on top of the cap, where they form warts, provided rain has not 

 washed them away. The beautiful Amanita cccsarea, Plate IX, and the Blusher (page 390) 

 are two exceptions in the dangerous Amanita family, being edible though possessing death-cups. 



In this connection it is of interest to 

 note that poisonous serpents and fungi 

 were associated in the mind of man from 

 early times. 



Pliny writes: "Noxious kinds must be 

 entirely condemned; for if there be near 

 them a hobnail or a bit of rusty iron or 

 a piece of rotten cloth, forthwith the 

 plant, as it grows, elaborates the foreign 

 juice and flavors into poison ; and coun- 

 try-folk and those who gather them are 

 alone able to discern the different kinds. 



"Moreover, they imbibe other noxious 

 qualities besides; if, for instance, the 

 hole of a venomous serpent be near and 

 the serpent breathe upon them as they 

 open, from their natural affinity with poi- 

 sonous substances, they are readily dis- 

 posed to imbibe such poison. Therefore 

 one must notice the time before the ser- 

 pents have retired into their holes." 



Were it not that the subject is such a 

 serious one, we should feel inclined to 

 laugh at the simplicity of the ancients. 



