FUNGI. 113 



lowed by oils or oleaginous purgatives, and the lower in- 

 testines should be washed out with an enema of warm 

 water and turpentine. The use of atropin must be gov- 

 erned by the symptoms, but it is advisable to push it 

 heroically, for in this alkaloid we have an almost com- 

 plete physiological antidote to the poisonous principles 

 of the Fly Amanita. Experiments on animals poisoned 

 by this fungus and also by muscarin extracted from it 

 have very clearly demonstrated that when the heart has 

 nearly ceased to beat it may be stimulated almost in- 

 stantly by a hypodermic injection of atropin. Its use, as 

 thus demonstrated, has been the means of saving numer- 

 ous lives. Muscarin may be dissolved out of the Fly 

 Amanita to a great extent by vinegar, but the possible 

 existence in the plant of such compounds as phallin 

 (described under Death Cup, p. 114), makes its use ex- 

 tremely dangerous." 



The Fly Agaric grows on the shady borders of fields 

 and especially in coniferous forests, and is one of the 

 The Plant I ar 8' es t of our mushrooms. The cap is yellow 

 to orange red, shining and warty, with a 

 slightly striate margin. The gills are white. The stem, 

 four to six inches long and about half an inch thick, ter- 

 minates below in a scaly bulb. 



DEATH CUP Amanita phalloides (L.) Fr. 



Other Common Names: Poison Amanita, Bulbous 

 Amanita. 



The name "Death Cup," with its sinister suggestion, 

 has been well earned by this fungus, for it is responsible 

 for even more deaths than its near relative, the Fly 

 Agaric. The Death Cup, while sometimes coloured, is 

 often pure white and very attractive in appearance. Its 



