2,2 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



as we learn to distinguish the difference between the 

 trefoil of the clover and that of the wood-sorrel, or 

 between the innocuous wild-carrot and the poison- 

 hemlock, the harmless stag-horn sumach and its 

 venomous congener, the Rhus venenata. There are 

 parallel outward resemblances between esculent and 

 poisonous fungi, but each possesses otherwise its 

 own special features by which it may be identified — 

 variations of gills, pores, spores, taste, odor, color, 

 juice, consistency of pulp, method of decay, etc. 



It must not be presumed that the list of edible 

 species just cited from the catalogue of Dr. Curtis 

 includes all the esculents among the fungi. Dr. 

 Harkness has discovered and classified many others. 

 Mr. Palmer and Prof. Charles Peck are never at a 

 loss for their " mess of mushrooms " among their list 

 of nearly a hundred species, while Mr. Charles Mcll- 

 vaine, whose name, so far as its practical authority 

 is concerned, should appear more prominently in my 

 bibliographical list, but who has not yet incor- 

 porated his many mycological essays in book form, 

 writes me that he has tested gastronomically a host 

 of species, and has found over three hundred to be 

 edible, or at least harmless. It may be said that the 

 probabilities would include a large majority of the 

 thousand species in the same category. But this is 

 a matter which, in the absence of absolute knowl- 

 edge, is mere conjecture. 



Of the forty-odd species which the writer enjoys 

 with more or less frequency at his table, he is satis- 

 fied that he can select at least thirty which possess 

 such distinct and strongly marked characters of form, 



