Sigel 
1905] ON THE Foop VALUE OF CERTAIN MUSHROOMS. 45 
albuminoids or Amides. The former are much the more valuable, 
since they particularly perform the function of repairing the waste 
of the body consequent upon daily activity and of building up its 
tissues. It is for this reason that the Albuminoids constitute the 
most important of the nutrients in all classes of foods. 
Considering now our results, it will be seen that while the 
percentage of Crude Protein in the fresh material decreases as the 
mushrooms grow larger (from 3.887% to 2.41%). the proportion of 
Albuminoids suffers but little loss during growth. This is the 
more prominently brought out by the data on the water-free sub- 
stance, which clearly show that the dry matter of the large and 
edibly mature mushroom is equally rich in the ‘‘flesh-formers” 
with that of the very young fungus. The last column of the table 
is instructive in pointing out that as growth advances the propor- 
tion of true Albuminoids in the Crude Protein increases. 
ASH OR MINERAL MatTTeR:—The ash constituents in the fresh 
material decrease with the age of the mushroom, namely, from 
1.36% to .7/%. This is not entirely due to the smaller proportion 
of dry matter in the older plant, for reference to the analysis of 
the water-free substance shows a falling off in ash_from 15.5 / to 
10.87. We may conclude from these results that it is more par- 
ticularly during the earlier stages of growth that the mineral 
elements are absorbed. 
Certain features in the foregoing results made it a matter of 
interest to ascertain what differences in composition might exist 
between the umbrella and the stalk—the analyses already discussed 
being made on the whole mushroom. Consequently, two gather- 
ings were made, (a) of small and medium size and (4d) of large 
and mature specimens, and the umbrellas and stalks, separately, 
submitted to examination. 
