106 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 760 



clumps, the' phenomenon spoken of in 

 bacteriology as agglutination, but in ad- 

 dition the corpuscles were slowly dissolved. 

 Neither species contained any amanita- 

 toxin. Both Amajiita solitaria and Ama- 

 nita ruiescens are regarded by mycologists 

 as edible. If they can be eaten by man, 

 these substances acting "in vitro" upon 

 the blood corpuscles must either be de- 

 stroyed in cooking or be digested in the 

 stomach and intestines, or the species must 

 vary in their properties. 



SPECIES COLLECTED IN 1908 



For a long time I had been anxious to 

 examine some of the rarer species of fungi 

 which closely resemble the deadly poison- 

 ous forms, and also some of the species 

 which are said to be dangerous, occasional 

 intoxications from their use having been 

 reported in the older literature. The op- 

 portunity of doing so was afforded me 

 through the kindness of Mr. George E. 

 Morris, of Waltham, Mass., who sent me 

 last fall a number of fungi which he had 

 himself procured, together with specimens 

 collected by Mr. Simon Davis, of Brook- 

 line, Mass., and some from the general col- 

 lection of the Boston Mycological Club. 

 These mushrooms were accurately identi- 

 fied in the fresh state, carefully dried in a 

 drying oven, wrapped in separate pack- 

 ages, labeled with the name of the finder 

 and the place and date of finding. The 

 specimens were analyzed "seriatim" in 

 the laboratory. The results of this work 

 will be reported in detail later, but to- 

 night the principal conclusions drawn 

 from the study of these forms may be 

 briefly commented upon. It is essential, 

 when looking into the properties of the 

 rarer fungi, especially the amanitas, that 

 the various species studied should have 

 been identified by expert botanists, and I 

 feel very fortunate in this respect in 



having material vouched for by such well- 

 known mycologists. One species of Ama- 

 nita phalloides obtained by Mr. Davis at 

 Stow was found to contain the poisons 

 typical of this species. Their strength 

 was somewhat less than usual, but the ac- 

 tion upon blood corpuscles and upon ani- 

 mals was identical with that usually found. 

 Two lots of Anianita virosa Fries were ex- 

 amined: one obtained by Mr. Morris in 

 Cohassett, and another by Mr. Davis in 

 Stow. In both instances hsemolysin and 

 toxin were present in maximum quanti- 

 ties. An extract of fungus in which the 

 dried material was utilized in the propor- 

 tion of six grams to fifty cubic centimeters 

 of water gave a hemolysin active in a 

 dilution of 1-200, and subcutaneous in- 

 jection of the extract killed guinea pigs 

 within twenty-four hours with the symp- 

 toms and lesions of an acute intoxication. 

 Amanita virosa thus is identical with 

 Amanita phalloides. Specimens of Ama- 

 nita spreta Peck collected by Mr. Morris 

 in Stow and by Mr. Davis in the same lo- 

 cality were identical in their action. In 

 the proporton of six grams of dried fungi 

 to sixty cubic centimeters of water a 

 hemolysin was present in both instances, 

 in a strength of 1-20 and the inoculation 

 of animals with the heated extract pro- 

 duced a typical chronic intoxication. 

 While the poisons are by no means as 

 powerful as those in Amanita virosa they 

 are of the same character. Amanita 

 spreta is described by Atkinson^* with the 

 words "said to be poisonous." Although 

 no cases of intoxication have thus far been 

 reported in the literature, the species must 

 be classed with the "deadly poisonous." 

 Amanita phailoides Bulliard, Amanita 

 verna Bulliard, Amanita virosa Fries and 

 Amanita spreta Peek, may thus be grouped 

 =" Atkinson, " Mushrooms," 1903, p. 69. 



