64 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 312. 



Every one has noticed the very pretty fungi with smooth 

 bright red pilei which spring up in large quantities in and 

 near woods and groves during the summer. They belong 

 to the genus Russula, which has white spores, and is dis- 



Fig. 10 Coprinus comatus (Horsetail Mushroom). Small specimen — edible. 



tinguished from the species of the genus Agaricus, described 

 above, by the fact that the pileus is quite thin and the gills 

 are arranged very regularly like the spokes of a wheel — 

 that is, there are few or no short gills inserted between the 

 long gills. The gills are usually pure white, but may be 

 cream or buff color. Several of our common species of 

 Russula have a very acrid, peppery taste, and are poison- 

 ous, although it is claimed that the acridity and poisonous 

 property may be removed by cooking. However that may 

 be, the good and bad species of Russula are distinguished 

 from one another with great difficulty, and unless one is an 

 expert he had better abstain from using any of the Russula 

 species. As they are mostly small and have but little sub- 

 stance, they are, on this account, of comparatively little 

 value at best. 



In none of the species we have as yet mentioned is there 

 to be seen any milk-like fluid which oozes out in drops 

 when the fungus is broken or wounded. The genus Lac- 

 tarius, however, contains a good many striking species 

 which are characterized by an exudation of a more or less 

 milky fluid, which is usually white or yellowish, and to the 

 taste may be very peppery, like that of the Russules, or 

 mild and pleasant. Fortunately, the best of our Lactarii, 

 L. deliciosus, is easily recognized by the fact that it is prac- 

 tically the only one of our fungi which when broken or cut 

 gives out a copious deep yellow-red milk, which slowly 

 becomes greenish in drying. It is often very common in 

 evergreen woods near our mountainous regions, but is hardly 

 found in lower districts. It is of a clear*yellow-red color 

 throughout, with a concave, somewhat mucilaginous, 

 pileus and hollow stipe. It can hardly be mistaken for 

 any other species when in good condition, although, as it 

 becomes old and dry, when it is not very good eating, it 

 resembles another species which is, however, not poison- 

 ous. In this connection we should mention another spe- 

 cies, Lactarius Indigo, one of the wonders of our fungus 

 flora, which is of a beautiful blue color and gives out an 

 abundant indigo-blue juice. We do not know whether this 

 species is edible or not, but its repulsive taste does not 

 tempt one to experiment with it. To sum up, the beginner 



should avoid all fungi which give out a milky juice unless 

 the juice is red. The acrid species should not be used at 

 all, and, even when the milk is not acrid, experiments 

 should not be made without caution. 



We can only briefly refer to other gill-bearing fungi. In 

 all the species hitherto mentioned the stipe is attached at 

 the centre of the pileus, and the rather sharp knife-blade 

 gills radiate from its apex, or very nearly so. In the Chan- 

 terelle (Fig. 11), however, the gills are not sharp and straight, 

 but blunt and more or less wavy, and extend for some dis- 

 tance down the stipe, so that they appear more like ridges or 

 folds than knife-blades. The Chanterelle is often very 

 abundant in midsummer in woody places, and is easily 

 recognized by its peculiar gills and color, which is egg- 

 yellow. We have other species of Chanterelle, but, with 

 one exception, they are not dangerous, and the common 

 edible Chanterelle is not likely to be confounded with the 

 dangerous form if one recollects that the under surface, as 

 well as the upper surface, is of an egg-yellow, and that the 

 upper surface of the pileus is flat, or a little concave, but 

 is not hollowed out in the form of a funnel. 



The oyster fungus, Agaricus ostreatus, grows in large 

 masses on the base of old trunks, often as late as Novem- 

 ber. In this species and its allies the stipe is not attached 

 at the centre of the pileus, but at one side or on the margin, 

 and the long gills are prolonged down over the stipe. The 

 different pilei overlap one another, and the shape of each 

 pileus in Ag. ostreatus is a little like that of an oyster-shell. 

 We mention this fungus because it is edible; not very good, 

 however, to our taste. Lastly, we may mention the so- 

 called Fairy-ring fungus, common in door-yards and grass- 

 plots. It is of a dull yellowish white color throughout, of 

 small size, seldom more than two inches across, with a 

 slender hollow stipe and comparatively few coarse gills. 

 The substance is rather tough, and the fungus does not 

 easily decay, but after drying, revives when the weather 

 becomes moist again. It gets its name from its habit of 

 growth. The fungus appears in tufts in the grass, the 

 tufts being arranged in the circumference of a circle, and 

 the circles may be recognized at a distance, from the fact 

 that just within the circle formed by the fungus is a circle 

 of grass more luxuriant than elsewhere. We cannot stop 



Fig. 11 Cantharellus cibarius, Chanterelle (two-thirds natural size)— edible. 



to explain the origin of the grass rings, the so-called fairy- 

 rings, but it should be said that this is not the only species 

 which causes fairy-rings, although they are unusually well 

 marked in this case. TT . „ ,-, , 



Harvard College. W. G. FarloW. 



