February 7, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



53 



also edible and about as good as the true mushroom, and, 

 in fact, mushroom collectors, who select the largest mush- 

 rooms, not unfrequently gather the Horse-mushroom, and 

 cannot tell it from the true mushroom. 



The mistake that mushroom-gatherers make is that they 

 select species which resemble the true mushroom in shape 

 and the color of the pileus only, but neglect to look at the 

 gills to see what their color is and the color of the spores, 

 or whether there is a ring round the stipe, points far more 

 important than the shape and color of the pileus. It is not 

 very likely that one will find in the north-eastern states a 

 poisonous species with purple spores which resembles so 

 much the true mushroom as to be mistaken for it, butthere 

 are several species with white gills and white spores which 

 have been mistaken for the true mushroom by careless 

 persons. Of the white-gilled, white-spored species, several 

 are very common and very poisonous, the most poisonous 

 being Agaricus phalloides, Ag. vernus and Ag. virosus. 

 Without attempting to give the minute characters by which 

 botanists distinguish these three species from one another, 

 it will suffice to say that all three are found in woods, Ag. 

 phalloides (Fig. 8) being common, and they occasionally ap- 

 pear on the borders of lawns and pastures. They are gener- 

 ally shining white, but sometimes of a pale yellow color, and 

 are as large as large mushrooms, with taller stipes and 

 comparatively thinner pilei. They can immediately be 

 distinguished from true mushrooms by their very white 

 unchangeable gills. The stipes are at first solid, but soon 

 become either entirely hollow, or there is a central soft 



ous of all our fungi, the volva might be overlooked if one 

 broke off the stipe above the ground, for it extends down 

 to some little distance below the surface of the ground, and 

 the volva may be buried as much as two inches under 

 dead leaves in the soil, so that if the fungus is pulled up 

 roughly the volva may be left behind. The species just 

 named differs also from the true mushroom in the fact that 

 when wet the surface of the pileus is viscid. 



Nearly related to the white-spored species named above 

 is Ag. muscarius, one of our commonest and most striking 

 species. It abounds in woods, especially Pine-woods, and 

 in pastures near woods, and is recognized by its brilliant 

 red or yellow colored nearly flat pileus, which becomes much 

 paler when old, over which are scattered, loosely attached, 

 flocculent scales of a white or buff color. The gills, spores 

 and stipe are pure white, and there is a large ring, but the 

 volva, in this case, is not a membraneous sac, but appears in 

 the form of coarse scales attached to the bulbous base of the 

 stipe. The species is poisonous, but not so much so as 

 Ag. phalloides. Its bright color attracts small children of 

 the age when green apples are considered a dainty, and 

 they sometimes attempt to eat it. It has been claimed that 

 this fungus is poisonous to the touch, but this is not true, 

 nor is there any proof that persons have been poisoned by 

 being in rooms where there are specimens of this species. 

 The writer has frequently slept in rooms where the fungus 

 was kept for the purpose of killing the flies which feed 

 upon it, without being in the least affected. 



To recapitulate. Unless one has had considerable expe- 

 rience he should avoid eating all those gill- 

 bearing fungi which have white gills and 

 white spores, and a volva of any kind at the 

 base of the stipe. The royal agaric, Ag- 

 csesareus, which is much esteemed in some 

 places, is not common in the north, where 

 it is seldom eaten, although more abundant 

 in the south. It closely resembles the poison- 

 ous Ag. muscarius in many respects, but the 

 gills and stipe are yellow, not white, as in 

 the last named, although, in both cases, the 

 spores are white. It should also be borne in 

 mind that the poisonous species with a volva 

 prefer the woods, whereas the true mush- 

 room prefers the fields. 



Harvard College. 



W. G. Farlow. 



S' 



Fig. S. — Agaricus phalloides (two-thirds natural size) — poisonous 



Volva. 



and flocculent pith. They all have well-marked rings, 

 decidedly larger than in the mushroom, and the base of the 

 stipe is surrounded by a bag-like envelope, the volva (Fig. 8). 

 This last character is very important and should not be 

 overlooked, j In A. phalloides, probably the most danger- 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



PRING has begun with us early again 

 this year. Already, the first harbingers, 

 the Christmas Roses, Snowdrops, Crocuses, 

 Eranthis hyemalis and several species of 

 Hellebore are in flower on our lawns and in 

 the rock-garden. The Christmas Roses are 

 a beautiful picture, covering a large space 

 under the trees, in what is called the Wild 

 garden, with crowded tufts of glistening 

 white flowers. We have yet to realize the 

 full value of this plant for producing broad 

 effects in the outdoor garden. Last autumn 

 many thousands of bulbs of Elwes' Snowdrop 

 were dibbled into the lawns, and the charm 

 of their myriads of nodding white bells on 

 the green grass in the middle of January is 

 as delightful as it is easy of production. I 

 gathered the first Crocus — it was a blue C. 

 Imperati — out-of-doors on the 16th instant. 

 The cushion-like tufts of marbled leaves of 

 the European Cyclamen are another charm- 

 ing picture at this time of year. This is another plant 

 which may be relied upon to make a pretty garden-effect 

 that will please, both of marbled foliage and rose-purple 

 flowers. Here they are planted in large numbers among 

 hardy Ferns on a piece of ground which is so shaded by 



