the people hftve wisely abstained from a fungus 

 diet. All tMngs considered, it is a legitimate 

 and wholesome horror, this wide-spread horror 

 of toadstools. The woods, the wild fields, and 

 the shaded roadsides gleam all through July and 

 August with that pale, pretty "spring mush- 

 room," the deadly Agaricus (Amanita) vermis; 

 yet how seldom we hear of even a child being 

 poisoned by eating it ! Surely it seems as if our 

 fear of toadstools, like our hatred for snakes, has 

 become an instinct. I have never known a mush- 

 room enthusiast who had not first to conquer an 

 almost mortal dread and to coax his backward 

 courage and appetite by the gentlest doses. And 

 this is well. An appetite for mushrooms is not 

 wholly to be commended. Strangely enough, 

 it is not the novice only who happens to suffer : 

 the professional, the addicted eater, not infre- 

 quently falls a victim. 



The risk the beginner runs is mainly from 

 ignorance of the species. In gathering anything 

 one naturally picks the fairest and most perfect. 

 Now among the mushrooms the most beautiful, 

 the ideal shapes are pretty sure to be of the 

 poisonous Amanita tribe, whose toxic breath 

 [236] 



