30 



ist of the Department of Agriculture, mentions in his "Observa- 

 tions on recent cases ot Mush- 

 room Poisoning in the District of 

 Columbia" a case, where a lady 

 walking the streets of Washington 

 one day "met a family, consisting 

 of a man, woman, and two children, 

 who had just completed the gath- 

 ering of a basketful of the fly 

 amanity and the death cup, which 

 they were taking home to eat." 

 These are two of the most poisonous 

 kinds that are to be found, and these 

 people had evidently mistaken them 

 for harmless species. Yearly our 

 papers in different parts of the 

 country are called upon to record 

 sad and terrible deaths through 

 mushroom-poisoning, due in great 

 measure to absolute carelessness in 

 phaiid**. separating the harmless from the 

 * at1 i3 al u iz s' harmful kinds, or to careless exper- 



Departmentof Agriculture, Division imfmtatinn with *;r>f>Hp<; knnwn to 

 of Botany, "Observations ou Recent imentatlOI Wltn SpCClCS KUOWn IO 

 Cases of Mushroom Poisoning in the -i -i r i 



District of Columbia." be harmtul. 



Death cp, 



What is a flushroom and What a Toadstool? 



Right here it might be useful to answer that oft-repeated ques- 

 tion "How am I to know a Mushroom from a Toadstool?" In 

 answer let it be distinctly understood that there is no difference 

 between a toadstool and a mushroom; all mushrooms are toad- 



PL,ATE} 1. The Common Mushroom, Agaricus campester, springing- 

 up spontaneously in a hot-house rose-bed. One-third life size. The 

 mycelium, or "spawn", was unconsciously introduced with manure. 



