the surface having the lustrous, changeful effefts of 

 a cat's eye. Others are striped in violet and deep 

 green; still others in green and mauve, and some 

 in ochre and tawny hues, while over all there is a 

 play of light as on watered silk. 



It requires somewhat of the heroic spirit to dis- 

 cover whether a mushroom is edible or not. But 

 we may feast our eyes on the amanita, and all other 

 mushrooms, with no fear of consequences. The 

 mycologist seems to overlook the finer and esthetic 

 value of mushrooms. They are beautiful to look 

 upon surely this is one important qualification. 

 What more attractive these misty days than the 

 deadly amanita the " destroying angel"? How 

 it gleams in the woods ! How it lures with its 

 terrible beauty ! But they who are tempted to 

 taste must be wholly given over to the pleasures 

 of the table. It was not made for the stomach, 

 but to be digested and assimilated by mental 

 processes alone and the perception of beauty there- 

 by nourished and sustained. 



How clean and wholesome is the pasture mush- 

 room the mushroom with its white flesh, pink 

 gills, and cap from which the skin peels as readily 

 as from a fig. The same field is often sprinkled 



"5 



