52 COXXECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



Van umbrimis Vitt.— " Dark brown, stem short, minutely scaly." 

 Var. rufesccns Berk. — " Cap reddish, minutely scaly. Flesh turn- 

 ing bright red when bruised or cut." 

 Var. villaticHS Brond. — ''Cap scaly; stem scaly." 

 Var. Iiortciisis pee. — " Cap brownish or yellow-brown. Culti- 

 vated." 

 Var. Buchanni — " Cap depressed in center." 

 Var. clongatus — "Long-stemmed variety." 

 Var. vaporarius Vitt. — " Greenhouse variety." 



Mcllvaine also says : " The Agaricus cainpestris is known the 

 world over as the common mushroom. It is cosmopolitan, ap- 

 pearing in pastures and rich places, from spring and until long 

 after severe frosts. It is the sweet morsel of gourmets. 

 Indirectly it has done more damage than the viciousness of all 

 other toadstools. It is by mistaking the young button forms of 

 the deadly Amanita for the button forms of the common mush- 

 room, that most cases of fatal mushroom poisoning are brought 

 about. It is, also, usually the persons who think they know the 

 mushroom and cannot be deceived, that get poisoned. If two 

 rules are observed, danger can be avoided, (i) Never eat a 

 fungus gathered in the woods believing it to be the mushroom. 

 The typical A. cainpestris does not grow in the woods; species 

 of Agaricus somewhat resembling it do. (2) Look at the gills; 

 those of the mushroom are at first a light pink, which rapidly, 

 as the plant matures, darkens to a dark brown, purplish-brown, 

 or purplish-black. This is due to the ripening of the spores. 

 Those of Amanita are constantly white." 



HYPHOLOMA Fr. 



This genus contains many edible species. The spores are 

 similar in color to those of Agaricus, but the plants are easily 

 distinguished. In rupturing, the universal veil does not leave a 

 well-defined ring on the stem as it does in Agaricus, but the 

 remnants of the veil .remain attached to the margin of the cap, 

 in many instances forming an appendiculate margin. In some 

 instances young specimens show the ring quite distinctly, but all 

 indications of it soon disappear. 



In Agaricus, the cap easily separates from the stem, the sub- 

 stance of the flesh being different in texture, but in Hypholoma 



