24 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



How are these popular notions sustained by the 

 facts? Let us analyze theni seriatim and confront 

 each with its refutation, the better to show their en- 

 tire untrustworthiness. 



POPULAR TESTS REFUTED 



Pleasant taste and odor (i) is a conspicuous feat- 

 ure in the regular " mushroom " {Agaricus campestris), 

 and most other edible fungi, but as a 



Worthless criterion for safety it is a mockery. 



popular tests The deadly Agaricus amamta, already 

 mentioned, has an inviting odor and to 

 most people a pleasant taste when raw, and being 

 cooked and eaten gives no token of its fatal resources 

 until from six to twelve hours after, when its unfort- 

 unate victim is past hope. (See p. 68.) 



The ready peeling of the skin (2) is one of the most 

 widely prevalent proofs of probation, and is often 

 considered a sufficient test ; yet the Amanita will be 

 found to peel with a degree of accommodation which 

 would thus at once settle its claims as a "mushroom." 

 Indeed, a large number of species, including several 

 poisonous kinds, will peel as perfectly as the Cam- 

 pestris. 



The pink gills ttirning brown (3) is a marked char- 

 acteristic of the " mushroom " {A. campestris, Plate 5), 

 and, being a rare tint among the fungus tribe, is really 

 one of the most valuable of the tests, especially as it 

 is limited by rules affecting other pink-gilled species. 



The stem being easily pulled out of the cap (4) ap- 



