FIELD AND FOREST. 6l 



reliably informed must be new, the Ag. {Amanita) pelucidulus, thus 

 named for its transpirent beauty, was the most lovely Agaric we ever 

 saw. The pileus was aright red deepened at top an i shaded into clear 

 transparent yellow at margain, lamellae yellow, stern pure white. 



A very remarkable power in fungi, and one which we have fre- 

 quently tested by experiments, is the reproducing any portion which 

 may be separated by knife or otherwise. We once saw a young Lyco- 

 perdon severely mutilated, bat it went to work to restore itself, and 

 in one night succeeded in forming a stro ig outer paridium. Though 

 the inequalities on the surface showed that the internal substance was 

 not fully replaced, yet before the time for expelling the spores, the 

 whole plant was renovated. This power obtains also with the Agarics 

 and Boleti. We think that this self-healing power arrests the growth 

 or expansion of the fungus for the time. All its forces seem required 

 for repair. This done, and the work of developement goes on as 

 usual. 



There is a popular prejudice in this State against frog-stools, so 

 called, as well as for all that bear the shape, and this prejudice is not 

 confined to any particular class. With many, our edible Ag. cam- 

 pestris comes in for its full share of the odium. Perhaps this is not a 

 regret to the faithful who hold it a luxury. The country child's first 

 lesson in Botany consists in being tought to dread frog-stools, or toad- 

 stools. Charmingly beautiful and attractive, but the nurse proclaims 

 them " pison things," not fit to touch, much less to eat. She dreads 

 them as she does the poisonous fangs of the rattle-snake. To eat them 

 would be reacting the part of Esau of Scriptural fame, selling one's 

 birthright for a mess of pottage. In a land where honest labor brings 

 the staff of life, bread and meat, who wonders at this prejudice; the 

 terrible stories of poisoning tend to heighten it. 



The late Dr. Curtis, of North Carolina, states that during our late. 

 war, when food was scarce, he ate the deleterious Lactarius piperahis 

 in connection with others, and found no ill effects; that it was pleasant 

 to the taste. The Russians eat this fungus with impunity during the 

 season of Lent. We confess that with all our enthusiasm for the study of 

 fungi we cannot coax ourselves into appreciating the delight with which 

 some of mycologists enter into their gastronomic properties. There is a 

 lingering of the prejudice instilled in nursery days. First lessons 

 make their mark; like record ink they deepen in the lapse of time; 



