Vol. XXXVII. No. 5 WASHINGTON 



May, I<)20 



^ THE 



NATDONAL 

 GEOGMAIPMDC 

 AGAZI 



COPYRIC^HT. 1 920. BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY. WASHINGTON. D. C. 



COMMON 



MUSHROOMS OF THE UNITED 

 STATES 



• By Louis C. C. Krieger 



Continuing its policy of presenting to its readers comprehensive and especially 

 timely articles and illustrations in color which stimulate a keener interest in and 

 a more satisfying enjoyment of the glories and wonders of Nature's forests, plains, 

 and hills, the National Geographic Magazine publishes the accompanying series 

 of matchless mushroom paintings and intimate descriptions by L. C. C. Krieger, 

 who is associated zmth Dr. Howard A. Kelly, of Baltimore. 



The delicacy of coloring and variety of hues, the curious forms and astound- 

 ing fertility of mushrooms, will amaze the reader. It is believed that Geographic 

 members ztnll take the same delight in their "Mushrooms'' Number that they have 

 expressed previously in such Nature-study numbers as ''Birds of Tozvn and 

 Country'' "Ainerican Game Birds," "Mankind's Best Friend — The Dog," "Our 

 State Floivers," "Wild Animals of North America," etcetera. 



The reader is especially cautioned, hozvever, that the illustrations and text 

 MUST NOT be used as final authority in deciding whether a particular specimen is 

 an edible or a poisonous fungus, because no treatise zmthin the limits of a single 

 number of even The Geographic could be sufficiently detailed and complete to 

 protect the novice against the deadly species, which are very numerous. For those 

 zvho desire more detailed description of mushrooms, this article is being amplified 

 zmth much technical data and can be obtained separately, bound in cloth, at $3.00 

 per copy, postpaid. 



IV /f ^-^^-^ ^^^^ thirty-eight miUion 

 m/l po^^^s of edible mushrooms 

 J_ T A were imported into our country 

 during the five years immediately pre- 

 ceding the World War. In addition to 

 this vast amount, we consumed not only 

 the large output of our own growers, but 

 quantities of wild species besides. 



The species imported from France 

 comprise the cultivated variety of the 

 common meadow or pasture mushroom, 

 Agaricus campcster (for illustrations see 

 Plate I and page 400) ; the expensive 

 truffle ; the cepe ( B. cdulis. illustrated 

 in Plate IV and on page 406). 



China sends us certain species largely 

 for the use of her own people resident 

 among us. Our own producers limit 

 themselves to the cultivated variety of 

 the meadow mushroom. 



The names of the wild species mar- 

 keted cannot be ascertained definitely, 

 since there is with us no such legal con- 

 trol of the sale of mushrooms as obtains 

 in most cities in continental Europe. 

 Gatherers in the United States either eat 

 their finds themselves or sell them pro- 

 miscuously to any mushroom-hungry in- 

 dividual who has the temerity or the 

 knowledge to venture purchasing. 



