22 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



table, filled me with consternation and anxiety for his 

 future. 



" How, then, shall we distinguish a mushroom from 

 a toadstool ?" 



There is no way of distinguishing them, for they 

 are the same. 



" How, then, shall we know a poisonous toadstool 

 from a harmless one ?" the reader hopelessly exclaims. 



This discrimination is by no means as difficult as 

 is popularly supposed, but in the first place, the stu- 

 dent must entirely rid himself of all preconceived 

 notions and traditions, such as the following almost 

 world-wide " tests," many of which are easily demon- 

 strated to be worse than worthless, and have doubt- 

 less frequently led to an untimely funeral. Some 

 of these are merely local, and in widely separated 

 districts are supplanted by others equally arbitrary 

 and absurd, while many of them are as old as history. 



WORTHLESS TRADITIONAL TESTS FOR THE DISCRIMINA- 

 TION OF POISONOUS AND EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



FAVORABLE SIGNS 



1. Pleasant taste and odor. 



2. Peeling of the skin of the cap from rim to centre. 



3. Pink gills, turning brown in older specimens. 



4. The stem easily pulled out of the cap and inserted in it 

 like a parasol handle. 



5. Solid stems. 



6. Must be gathered in the morning. 



7. "Any fungus having a pleasant taste and odor, being found 

 similarly agreeable after being plainly broiled without the least 

 seasoning, is perfectly safe.'' 



