28 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



The objection against milky -mushrooms (17) would 



serve to exclude the poisonous species of Lactarius, 



but would thus include at least two of 



Worthless the delicious species of the group, L. 

 popular tests deliciosus, vj'iih. orange milk (Plate i8)^ 

 and L. piperatus, another species with 

 white milk not figured in this volume. 



The group of Russule, most of which are esculent, 

 is notable for \.\\e.\v gills of even length (18), though 

 not all the species are thus characterized. This 

 discrimination, however, especially applies to the 

 Shaggy-mane (Plate 16), which is conspicuously even- 

 gilled, and is a decided delicacy. 



This species, together with its congener, the edible 

 Coprinus atram^entarius (Plate 17), are notorious for 

 their melting into black fiuid (19), which is thus of no 

 significance as a test, although the mushrooms are not 

 supposed to be eaten in this stage of deliquescence. 



A fungus which bites the tongue (20) when tasted 

 would naturally be excluded from our mushroom diet, 

 as would also, of course, those of a bitter or nauseat- 

 ing taste ; but several species, notably the Lactarius 

 piperatus, as its name implies, is very hot and peppery 

 when raw — a characteristic which disappears in cook- 

 ing, after which it is perfectly esculent. The same 

 applies in a scarcely less degree to the Agaricus 

 melleus, and less so to the Hydnum repandum (Plate 

 27), and other mushrooms. But the poisonous J^us- 

 sula emetica (Plate 13) gives this same hot, warning 

 tang, and this rule (17) would at least thus exclude 

 the harmful species, and is thus contributive to pop- 

 ular safety. 



