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they find in the form of a fleshy mushroom as they scour a piece 
of woodland, at times leaving behind them the ‘‘cups” of the 
poisonous species imbedded in the soil. These same persons 
not only eat the specimens themselves, but also sell them to shop- 
keepers and share them with their friends. The white form 
of Amanita phalloides, especially when young and broken away 
from its swollen base, does not appear.so very different to these 
collectors from the common field mushroom, Agaricus campestris, 
which is often pure white above and has its vivid pink gills 
hidden from sight by the veil in the younger stages. The two 
species are, however, very widely distinct, and persons incapable 
of distinguishing them would do well to abandon at once the 
réle of mycophagist. The following descriptions indicate how 
different the two plants are: 
ComMon MusHroom, Agaricus campestris. 
Pileus 5-9- cm. broad, convex to expanded, dry, silky and 
whitish or floccose-squamulose and light reddish-brown, the color 
being chiefly in the scales; flesh white, thick, solid, of mild flavor, 
sometimes becoming reddish when broken; gills free, rounded 
behind, ventricose, crowded, white when young, becoming sal- 
mon-pink, and finally purplish-brown or blackish; spores ellip- 
soid, smooth, dark-brown, 12 long; ring delicate cel 
cu- 
ous, formed from a thin, white veil, wien covers the gills in their 
younger stages; stem smooth, white, cylindric, ene equal, 
stuffed within, 3-6 cm. long, 1.5-2 cm. thick 
The common mushroom occurs in low grass on meadows or on 
rich, moist upland pastures, being common after rains from 
August to October i in this latitude. e ‘‘spawn,”’ or vegetative 
matter found therein. In the cultivation of this species, bricks 
of spawn are planted in suitable soil and the conditions of growth 
attended to with great care. This is the mushroom usually 
found in market, either in the fresh state or in cans. Most 
persons who collect fungi for food in the fields limit themselves 
to this one species. 
DEsTROYING ANGEL, Amanita phalloides. 
eus vex to expanded, 5-15 cm. broad; surface smooth, 
Bcc ein slightly viscid when moist; margin entire, con- 
