MUSHROOMS, EDIBLE AND POISONOUS. 185 



to recognize the edible portion and proper condition. Some now 

 present may remember a very fine specimen exhibited on the table 

 of this Society last summer. This was tasted by several members 

 of the M3'cological Club with very gratifying results. The flesh 

 may be stewed, fried in butter, or eaten cold as a salad, and on 

 the whole may fairly be said to resemble the white meat of chicken. 

 I am inclined to claim for it equal value as food. It is hardly 

 possible to mistake this edible mushroom for any other, and, if not 

 spoiled in cooking, it cannot fail to recompense whomsoever 

 gathers it. Who shall sa}' how many meals for a family go to 

 waste annually within a stone's throw of some family whose worry 

 would have been lightened by a knowledge of the food value of 

 this mushroom? 



Helvella crispa. — This mushroom is also little known in this 

 country. It is allied to the Morel, its spores being enclosed before 

 dissemination. The Helvella is an autumn fungus, and all the 

 species are edible and easily recognized b}' their fluted hollow 

 stem, flexible waxy cap, and the color — cream above and ochre 

 beneath. It grows in woods during the late summer and autumn. 



Armillaria melleus. The Honey Mushroom. — The Honey 

 Mushroom is given in the reports of Dr. Taylor as edible. Cooke 

 speaks of it as the most common and the most universally eaten 

 on the Continent of all the stump mushrooms, and yet it has no 

 favor in England ; it is so common in this country as to be rated as 

 a nuisance. All writers have placed this among edible fungi, but iu 

 the absence of any personal experience we will not insist upon its 

 value as a food product. It is found growing on stumps, fre- 

 quently in dense clusters, and if growing out of grass there is a 

 bit of rotten wood beneath ; the cap is of a honey-brown color and 

 is about two inches across, darker in the centre than at the outer 

 edge ; the stem is rather long, paler than the cap, with a large 

 spreading ring near the top. It is this which gives it the name 

 Armillaria — " little bracelet." The spores are white and so pro- 

 fuse that grass, wood, and leaves beneath are soon covered with a 

 coating of snow-white spores ; this feature will help in its identifi- 

 cation. More testimony is needed as to the value of this mush- 

 room as a food product, though there is no doubt of its being 

 edible, the question being, Is it esculent? This species is very 

 interesting botanically, though this is somewhat apart from our 

 present subject. Botanists have noted that it gives out a phos- 



