FUNGI OF NOVA SCOTIA. — MACK AY. 133 



difficult to obtain. Moderate quantities of it have no effect 

 whatever." 



Of the reddish spored Stropharia, he says : 



'' The entire genus has been under a cloud. Writers upon 

 it assert some of its members to be dangerously poisonous. So 

 far as carefully tested l)y the writer ( Macllvane) no doubtful 

 species has been encountered, and one (S. semiglobata) has 

 bee'n eaten by himself and friend? since 1881, notwithstanding 

 its dangerous reputation." 



It was Sowerby who drew attention to the above discussed 

 species as dangerous, and intimated that in one case it had 

 been fatal. A near relative of the Glace Bay species, Psylocybe 

 semilanceata. a dark-purple spored agaric of the same general 

 appearance, has its spores nearly of the same size. And, accord- 

 ing to M. C. Cooke, a careful English authority, it has a 

 dangerous reputation, having been said to have proved fatal to 

 children when eaten raw. Macllvane says it is not deleterious 

 when cooked. 



As there is much to learn yet aliout the effects of eating the 

 different species of our fungi, it is hoped that all well attested 

 experiences may be reported for publication and record. A 

 fatal case of poisoning was reported from the neighborhood of 

 Kentville the previous year; but the species were not known. 

 The victim was an old man who had collected them for his sup- 

 per, which it is presumed he had often done before. The symp- 

 tons were those of Amanita poisoning, and the accidental 

 inclusion of one specimen in the collection would have been 

 sufficient to account for the results. 



This case was thus described in a communication from W. 

 B. Moore, M. D., on the 11th August, 1904: 



" Mr. M., a farmer age 62 years, came home from his work 

 late in the evening, apparently in good health, and verv hungry. 

 On his way home he hastily gathered a lot of mushrooms, and 

 as hastily prepared them, witli the assistance of his old wife 



