KNOWIJIDGI-:. 



Dkckmukr. 1912. 



Ficruii 492. 



Liberty Cap {Psilocybc 

 semilanccata). 



and lia.s one or 

 two largish white 

 scales sticking 

 to it. These are 

 parts of the volva 

 uhich enclosed 

 t ti (■ toadstool 

 wlicii immature. 

 Other remains of 

 the same are seen 

 in the cup at the 

 l)ase of the stem. 

 The toadstool has 

 white gills and a 

 white ring near 

 the tdj) of the 

 stem. It grows 

 in woods. Though 

 .so innocent-look- 

 ing, it is respon- 

 sible for more 



The Scarlet 



than half of the cases of 

 toadstool poisoning and for 

 ninety per cent, of the 

 deaths. Victor Gilet foimd 

 one hundred and foiirtmi 

 cases recorded in the 

 literature, and seventy- 

 three of these were fatal. 

 It is probable that this 

 death-rate of si.\ty-four 

 per cent, is rather too 

 high, because fatal cases 

 are much more likely to 

 be recorded than those less 

 severe. The poisonous 

 properties of the Death- 

 cup appear to be mainly 

 due to an albuminous 

 substance, phallin, which 

 is obtained from an aqueous 



extract of the fungus: it is not unpleasant to the taste, 

 but is ver)- fatal when administered to cats and dogs. 

 It dissolves the blood corpuscles and coagulates the 

 blood, and on this action its poisonous properties 

 mainly depend. The symptoms produced by phallin 

 are not, however, exactly like those which develop 

 when the Death-cup toadstool is eaten, and it is 

 very likely that other toxic substances exist as well. 

 Three other poisonous substances have been described 

 by different observers. One of them, amanitine. is 

 purely narcotic in its action ; the others, bulbosine 

 and phalloidine are alkaloids. Not till eight to 

 twelve or even twenty-four hours after the toadstool 

 is eaten do s\-mptoins usualK- develop. The patient 

 then begins to suffer from wliat might casilv be mis- 

 taken for severe cholera with nausea and watery 

 diarrhoea, cramps, convulsions and collapse. Death 

 may take place about the second or tliirci day. or the 

 condition may improve. Often, liowexer. this 

 improvement is only temporarv. for witliin two or 

 three days the symptoms return, and a condition 



resembling .severe jaundice, with stujjor, develops, 

 and death occurs about the (ifth or seventh day. 



Amanita verna is said tf) give rise to similar 

 SNiiiptoms. 



The Scarlet I'My Cap iAiiuiiiitii muscaria. l-'igine 

 49.i) is probably the best kiKjwn of our toadstools. 

 It has a scarlet (at times orange) caj). dotted all over 

 with white warts. These warts are the remains of 

 the Nolva which co\ered the toadstool when voung. 

 There is no definite cu|), but the base of the stem is 

 swollen. The gills are white, and there is a well- 

 marked ring. The fungus is found most abundantly 

 in the neighbourhood of birch trees. In Kamschatka 

 and North-Eastern Asia this fungus is stated on 

 good authority to be regularly used to produce 

 intoxication. The toadstools are collected in the 

 hottest months and hung up to dry. When 

 re(]uired for use, they are rolled up and swallowed 

 whole. One large or two small will, in a coui)le of 

 hours, produce an intoxication that lasts for twelve 

 to twenty-four hours. A feeling of giddiness with 

 exaltation and delirium is 

 produced. The face be- 

 comes flushed and the 

 muscular power is in- 

 creased. In cases of poison- 

 ing, the early symptoms, 

 which usualh' commence 

 within one or two hours 

 of the toadstool being 

 eaten, closelv resemble the 

 above : the patient may 

 become actuallv maniacal. 

 Sickness and diarrhoea are 

 sometimes present. Con- 

 vulsions and stupor usuallv 

 follow, and within a few- 

 hours the patient becomes 

 drowsy and goes to sleep, 

 and mav awake but little 

 the worse for the accident. 



iiinscaruii 



Figure 49i. 

 Fly Cap (Atnanit 



A few fatal cases 

 have been re- 

 corded, however. 

 In these the stage 

 of stupor is fol- 

 lowed b\- one of 

 collapse, with em- 

 barrassed breath- 

 ing, lilueness of 

 the skin, lowered 

 temperature, and 

 death from heart 

 failure within 

 twelve or tliirteeii 

 hours of the 

 onset of symii- 

 tonis. 



Till' poisonous 

 principle of the 

 Scarlet Fly Cap 

 is easilv dissolved 



Tlu 



FlcU'KK 494. 

 Slayer {Lactariiii! ni/iis). 



