584 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



writer's illustration of Atnanita phalloides is here repro- 

 duced in Figure i, where- it occupies the central position. 



Poisoning from the eating of this species is wonder- 

 fully rapid, and the death following it a most painful and 

 horrible one. Some of the species of this genus are non- 

 poisonous ; but notwithstanding this, it is far better to be 

 on the safe side, and let all amanitas, or "death cups" as 

 they are called, alone. We find them growing, from 

 April to October, or even later, according to latitude, in 

 open, rich woods, and sometimes in cultivated pastures. 



In studying! mushrooms, one should first be familiar 

 with the simple structures presented on the part of a 

 typical specimen of an all-round variety. Now in the 

 Amanita (Fig. i), it must 

 be noted that the plant pri- 

 marily presents the cap or 

 top part, and the stem. 

 which is the fleshy rod sup- 

 porting it. Beautiful, radi- 

 ating plates, most delicate 

 in structure, occupy the un- 

 der side of the cap; these 

 are known as the gills. Of- 

 ten, at the root or base, we 

 find an enveloping cup, 

 here well shown in Figure 

 I, in the Amanita, and it is 

 called the volva or veil. It 

 is not always present, nor 

 are the gills to be found ir 

 all mushrooms. Note, too, 

 in Amanita, below the cap, 

 a curious, down-hanging 

 structure, encircjing the 

 upper part of the stem. 

 This is the ring, and its dis- 

 tance from the pileus or 

 cap varies in different spe- 

 cies when it is present, or 

 even in different plants of 

 the same species. 



"Coral Fungi", which 

 closely resemble some spe- 

 cies of the smaller varieties 

 of coral, are always ex- 



cremely beautiful. Two species of these are shown in \g- 

 ure 2, the two lower specimens being small examples 

 of the yellow form {Clavaria flava), much enjoyed by 

 epicures. The upper, lavender-colored one, is Clavaria 

 amcthystina. There are numerous species of this genus 

 Clavaria, and the student-collector should carefully enter 

 in a note-book, at the time of collecting, the color of any 

 particular specimen ; the character of the tips or apices 

 of the branches ; the taste and character of the spores, and, 

 finally, in what sort of place it was found. When 

 perfect, and growing in dark soil, in open, shady woods, 

 these coral forms of Clavaria are most beautiful. In 



FIG. n A TALL TOADSTOOL 



This is a specimen of Agarius silvicola. Its gills are dark colored 

 and its stipe or stem somewhat bulbous. (Half natural size) The 

 collar of this specimen is pressed up against the stem. Most of 

 the species, if not all, of this genus are edible. Nearly every va- 

 riety of brown-spored toadstool wiih free gills is in this group. 



important. When it spreads out like a flatish umbrella, 

 slightly convex on its upper surface, with free gills below, 

 its form is said to be umbonate. When it becomes mark- 

 edly convex on its superior surface, we simply use that 

 term to describe it, just as we say it is expanded when it 

 is very broad and flatish. Finally, we have the funnel- 

 form cap, which resembles a funnel with its spout pass- 

 ing into the stem. In Figure 3 the two funnel-shaped 

 mushrooms are readily recognized, there being one on 

 either side of the upper specimen of a Boletus. 

 Three beautiful puff-balls (Lycoperdon gemmatwm) 

 are grouped in the lower right-hand corner of 

 this figure. .'\ great many different kinds of mushrooms 



are grouped in the genus 

 Boletus, referred to above ; 

 indeed, so long is our list of 

 them that to even mention 

 the forms by name would 

 occupy altogether too much 

 space in this connection ; 

 they belong to one of the 

 groups of fungi that have 

 pores instead of gills. On 

 a vertical section of the cap 

 of a Boletus, these pores 

 appear like a lot of vertical 

 little tubes, packed closely 

 together, the whole forming; 

 :i sort of dense, spongy 

 mass. This is well seen in 

 the small Boletus to the left 

 in Figure 4. Besides the 

 many books, monographs, 

 and special illustrated ar- 

 ticles that have appeared on 

 these fungi with pores, are 

 two very famous ones, the 

 first being the New York 

 State Museum Bulletin No. 

 8, of the year 1888, in 

 which no species are de- 

 scribed. It is entitled "Bo- 

 leti of the United States," 

 and, if not exhausted, may 

 be purchased from the 

 State librarian at Albany, N. Y. Mr. Edmund Michael 

 has also published, in German, his "Fuhrer fur Pilz- 

 freunde," with nearly 70 colored plates. Our own De- 

 partment of Agriculture at Washington has issued nu- 

 merous works on this subject, as Bulletin 796, by Flora 

 W. Patterson and Vera K. Charles on "Some Common 

 Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms," and the Department- 

 al Bulletin 175 on "Mushrooms and Other Common Fun- 

 gi." Then Nina L. Marshall, in "The Mushroom Book," 

 gives a list of writers on this subject at the close of her 

 volume. She has an excellent chapter on these fungi 

 with pores that should be carefully read by the student 



identifying mushrooms, the shape of the cap is extremely of mycology; it is too extensive to give more than this 



