6o EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



to the fly-amanita. Its beautiful gossamer veil may 

 aptly symbolize a shroud. 



By fixing these simple structural features of the 

 Amanita in mind, and emphasizing them by a study 

 of our Frontispiece, we may now consider ourselves 

 armed against our greatest foe, and 

 Forewarned ^g^y sfjith some assurance make our 

 forearmed limited selection among this lavish lard- 

 er of wild provender continually going 

 to waste by the ton in our woods and pastures and 

 lawns. For it is now a fact generally believed by 

 fungologists, and being gradually demonstrated, that 

 the edible species, far from being the exception, as 

 formerly regarded, are the rule; that a great majority 

 of our common wild fungi are at least harm.less, if 

 not positively wholesome and nutritious as food. 



THE POISONOUS ALKALOID 



The toxic and deadly effects of certain mushroom 

 poisons, as already described, have been known since 

 ancient times; and the prolonged intoxicating de- 

 bauches to-day prevalent among the Amanita dipso- 

 maniacs of Northern Russia and Kamchatka, con- 

 sequent upon the allurements of the decoction of the 

 fly-agaric, are well-known matters of history. 



The true chemical character of this poison, however, 

 was not discovered until 1868, when it was successfully 

 isolated by chemical analyses of Drs. Vigier, Schmiede- 

 berg, Currie, and Koppe, and ascertained to be an 

 alkaloid principle, to which was given originally the 

 name of bulbosine, since variously known as musca- 

 rine, and finally and most appropriately amanitine. 



