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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



FIG. 3 BOLETUS AND PUFF BALLS 

 The middle specimen in the upper low is a fungus belonging to 

 the genus boletus, several of which are comparatively safe as 

 food. In fact, the edible boletus (5. edulis) the cepe of France 

 formerly an imported product, is now largely grown in Cali- 

 fornia. "Funnel-shaped fungi" are here well shown, together 

 with good examples of Puff-balls, of which there are three in 

 the foreground. 



FIG. 4 BOLETUS AND BLUSHER 

 To the left is another small boletus, or one of the fleshy fungi. 

 It is posed in such a way as to show the replacement of gills by 

 the "tubes" in this genus, a specimen of the Orange Cap 

 Boletus (5. versipellis), an edible species of this largely poi6on- 

 ous group. The lumpy fungus to the right is a "blusher" (Ama- 

 nita rubescens) in a young stage ; this is an edible species of a 

 very dangerous genus. 



ties, a mess of these delicious morsels for his morning or 

 evening meal. But, mind you, "there's death in the cup ;" 

 and, unless one is certain of the species beyond all doubt, 

 it is decidedly better to stick to the regular camp fare 

 and pass the mushrooms by. 



Now that this caution has been set forth as strongly as 

 words can make it, we may, with safety, undertake to 

 describe the pleasure to be derived from a study of some 

 of these curious little sentinels of the woods, and even 

 point out the difference between the edible and non-edible 

 ones. . . I , 



Some time ago, or early in the autumn of 1919, the 



MG. 2 THE CORAL, AX AMERICAN FUNGI 



Of all the American fungi known, none is handsomer or more 

 attractive than the '^Coral." In this cut are two different species 

 of them, and surely they are well named. The uppermost spe- 

 cimen is the lavender-colored Clavaria amethystina; while below 

 it, in the foreground, we have two examples of the Pale Yellow 

 Coral Fungus (C flava). Both kinds are edible and more or 

 less esteemed as food. 



writer and his wife gathered in a few hours over thirty 

 different species of mushrooms and other fungi in a piece 

 of woods adjoining the National Zoological Park, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. ; the next day photographs were made, natu- 

 ral size, of nearly all of these. It was a- remarkable year 

 for mushrooms, and it was a marvelous sight to see so 

 many kinds flourishing in so limited an area. Later, 

 twenty-three of these photographs were submitted to 

 Mrs. Flora W. Patterson, the Mycologist in Charge at the 



