POLYPOREI 



183 



all Boleti having any shade of red on the spore-bear- 

 ing surface beneath, even as it was originally claimed 

 that all red-capped toadstools were poisonous. But 

 from the writer's own individual experiments, rein- 

 forced by the experience of others, he is beginning 

 to be persuaded that the Boletus as a genus has been 



SECTION OF BOLETUS SHOWING PERPENDICULAR TUBES 



maligned. Many species accredited as poisonous he 

 has eaten repeatedly without the slightest deleterious 

 consequences, including the crimson Boletus, B. al- 

 veolatus (Plate 24, fig. 2), vi^ith its red spore surface, 

 and the B. stcbtomentosics (Plate 22, fig. i), whose yel- 

 lowish flesh, like the species just mentioned, changes 

 quickly to blue upon fracture, a chemical feature 

 which has long stamped both species as dangerous. 



