44 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 310. 



more easily seen if, in the treatment for collecting spores 

 above described, colored paper of some neutral tint is used. 

 The color of the spores having been observed, the next 

 point is to notice the peculiarities of the stipe. Whether it 

 is hollow or solid, or has a sort of flocculent pith, is easily- 

 settled. The next point, and a more important one, is 

 whether or not there is a ring round the stipe. The ring, 

 or annulus, is, in comparatively few cases, strictly speak- 

 ing, a ring. In most cases it might better be called a col- 

 lar, for it is a membrane attached to the stipe, and either 

 hangs down or, less frequently, is erect. In the Parasol- 

 fungus (Fig. 5) and some others, it is really a ring free 

 from the stipe, so that it sometimes drops down and escapes 

 notice at first. We have said that the ring is a membrane, but 

 the membrane may be reduced to very narrow proportions, 



'•-,- '- —■•Mil, — S -iM -^"V" 



1 1 



Fig. 5. — Agaricus procerus, the Parasol-fungus (two-thirds natural size) — edible. 



or even to a small flocculent band around the stipe. The 

 way in which the ring is formed may be seen on examining 

 a young Toadstool before it has fully expanded, when it 

 will be noticed that a membrane, the veil, extends from the 

 stipe to the outer edge of the pileus, concealing from view 

 the gills behind. As the pileus expands, this membrane rup- 

 tures and a part remains attached to the stipe, forming the 

 ring, while a part remains attached to the edge of the pileus 

 as a ragged appendage. 



A very important point to be observed, more important 

 than any before mentioned, is whether the base of the stipe 

 is enclosed in a sort of ruptured bag, the volva. A volva 

 is present in our most poisonous species, and is either 

 plainly visible as a membraneous bag, ruptured by the 

 growth of the stipe upward, or it remains adherent to the 

 base of the stipe in the form of large flakes or scales. 



Other points to be noted are the character of the gills ; 

 whether sharp, like a knife-blade, or blunt and ridge-like ; 

 whether the inner edges of the gills do not extend up to the 

 stipe, or whether they extend downward over it ; whether, 

 on breaking or cutting, there exudes a juice, and, if so, its 

 color and the change of its color on exposure to the air ; 

 the density and texture, whether dry and hard or soft and 

 watery ; and whether, as it begins to decay, the fungus 

 simply rots and becomes putrid, or quickly turns into an 

 ink-like fluid. Most of these points can be settled at a 

 glance. Lastly, what is not likely to be overlooked, the 

 taste and odor should be noticed Some persons, whose 

 sense of smell is acute, are able to distinguish, especially 

 with practice, many differences in odor, but most persons 

 can recognize in fungi only certain peculiar odors, as that 

 of anise, of flour, a certain fruity odor, an ammoniacal odor, 

 a putrid odor, etc., found in certain species, and to them 

 the mass of fungi have what they call a fungus odor not 

 easily described. In most critical cases the sense of smell 

 does not help much in distinguishing species, and it may 

 be doubted whether those most confident in their ability to 

 distinguish delicate shades of odor are as skillful as they 

 believe themselves to be. As an instance of the uncertainty 

 concerning odors may be mentioned a case where the 

 writer asked a number of ladies and gentlemen to describe 

 the odor of a quantity of the fungus Craterellus lutescens. 

 The persons were questioned separately that one might 

 not be influenced by the opinion of the others, and it turned 

 out that all the gentlemen described the odor as a pleasant 

 odor of fruit, while all the ladies said that the fungi smelled 

 like pork. It should also be said that odors of fungi are 

 transient, or, perhaps, intermittent, and in one species, 

 Russula fcetida, although the odor, as the name implies, is 

 usually repulsive, it is sometimes pleasant, like that of bitter 

 almonds. Taste is a much better guide than smell, but the 

 beginner should be warned that, although tasting may 

 sometimes show that it would be the part of common sense 

 to avoid experimenting with certain acrid or nauseous 

 species, on the other hand the absence of any disagreeable 

 taste is not the slightest indication that a fungus is not dan- 

 gerous. Our most poisonous species are all the more dan- 

 gerous from the fact that they have rather a pleasant, cer- 

 tainly not an unpleasant, flavor. The delicate flavors of 

 fungi so much prized by connoisseurs are only brought out 

 by cooking, and, as yet, neither the American palate nor 

 the American cook has been educated to the point of mak- 

 ing fungus-eating with us the art which it is in France and 

 some other countries. Mycophagy here is still in its 

 infancy. 



Harvard College. 



W. G. Farlow. 



Entomological. 



The Plum Curculio as an Apple Pest. 



THE Plum Curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar, has long 

 been recognized over a wide range of our country as 

 one of the greatest obstacles to successful Plum-grow- 

 ing, and the insect has been known as a persistent enemy 

 of other stone-fruits, such as the peach, apricot and cherry. 

 For a good many years occasional references have appeared 

 in entomological journals to its injury to apples, but it has 

 very rarely been recorded as doing any serious injury to 

 this crop ; and the damage has seemed to be mainly from 

 the punctures of the mature insect either for food or for the 

 purposes of oviposition, for the larvae seldom appeared to 

 thrive and reach full development. 



During the past season in a portion of an orchard at 

 Chateauguay, on the south side of the St. Lawrence 

 River, opposite Montreal Island, the plum curculio de- 

 stroyed hundreds of bushels of apples, and in some varie- 

 ties of the fruit appeared to have no difficulty in living its 

 full larval period, and in leaving the apples in due season, 

 and in good condition, to pupate and reach the beetle stage. 

 Some apples had apparently been punctured and had larvae 

 in them for a time, but these seemed to have disappeared 



