44 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



character to the casual observer, the Amanita, as a 

 genus and a species, is nevertheless easily identified, 

 if the mushroom collector will for the moment con- 

 sider it from the do^amca/ . rather than 

 •d^^'f^d ^^^ sensuous or gustatorial standpoint. 

 botanicaliy The deadly Amanita need no longer 



impose upon the fastidious feaster in 

 the guise of the dainty " legume " of his menu, or as 

 a contaminating, fatal ingredient in the otherwise 

 wholesome ragout. 



In Plate 3 I have presented the reprobate Amanita 

 vermis in its protean progressive proportions from in- 

 fancy to maturity. This is especially 

 Amanita desirable, in that the fungus is equally 

 vernus dangerous as an infant, and also be- 

 cause the development of its growth 

 specially emphasizes botanicaliy the one important 

 structural character by which the species or genus 

 may be easily distinguished. Let us, then, consider 

 the specimen as a type of the tribe Agaricus (gilled 

 mushroom, see p. 79), genus Amanita. 



Year after year we are sure of finding this species, 

 or others of the genus, especially in the spring and 

 summer, its favorite haunt being the woods. Its 

 spores, like other mushrooms, are shed upon the 

 ground from thfe white gills beneath, as described in 

 our chapter on " Spore-prints," or wafted to the ends 

 of the earth on the breeze, and eventually, upon hav- 

 ing found a suitable habitat, vegetate in the form of 

 webby, white, mould-like growth — mycelium — which 

 threads through the dead leaves, the earth, or decaying 

 wood. This running growth is botanicaliy considered 



