296 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Nov 
larly knownas “bluewits” or “bluecaps,”’ however, is often 
offered for sale. We have at least eighty different kinds 
of fungi perfectly safe and good to eat. Of these, forty 
kinds are common and widely distributed, the most abund- 
ant and oneof the best being the “parasol mushroom” 
(Lepiota procera), one of the toadstool type, having a slen- 
der stem five to eight inches in length, and a flat brown- 
ish scaly cap six to nine inches across. The gills are 
persistently white, 
The Morels, as they are called(Morchella) are amongst 
the best of edible fungi, and belong to a group of fungi 
that appear in the spring, when other kinds of edible 
fungi are absent. The species grow on the ground among 
grass, the stem is stout, and the cap or spore-bearing por- 
tion is globose or conical and marked on the outside with 
deep irregular depressions. Inthe Southern Hemisphere 
the counterparts of our Morels are parasites growing on 
trees. 
There isonly one genus (Cyttaria), and the speciés, 
so far as is known, only grow on the different species of 
evergreen beech. ‘These southern Morels are not uncom- 
mon in Chiliand in Tasmania, and were in both countries 
eaten by the aborigines, as they are at present by their 
successors. Several species of fungi are eaten by squir- 
rels. Slugs and snails are also partial to some kinds, the 
poisonous species of Russula being especial favorites. 
Poisonous fungi do undoubtedly exist, but among the 
kinds that are at all likely to be collected for food poison- 
ous kinds are not so common as generally supposed. Prob- 
ably 90 per cent of the deaths caused by poisonous fungi, 
are due to eating the “‘death-cup” (Amanita phalleides), 
or its near relation A. mappa. Why these fungi should 
be collected for food is not quite clear. They certainly 
do not in the least resemble any species usually consider- 
ed asgood for eating—least of all the common mush- 
room ; perhaps it is on account of their neat appearance, 
ee “. 
