120 EDIBLE AND POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 



the year {Lactarius piperatus), which has 

 been declared poisonous for the past fifty 

 years. The pileus is quite smooth instead 

 of woolly, the gills are narrower and 

 close together, the milk is white and 

 peppery, the stem very short and thick, 

 and the pileus depressed, like a wine-glass, 

 sometimes as much as six or eight inches 

 in diameter. Is it really poisonous, or 

 has it been only suspected on account of 

 its acrid milk ? Many years ago the Eev. 

 Dr. Curtis informed Berkeley that he 

 constantly had eaten it in the United 

 States without inconvenience, and found 

 it excellent. Still more recently a corre- 

 spondent in New Jersey writes distinctly 

 that it is edible, for he has eaten it. These 

 persons are competent judges of the true 

 species, and quite as competent to pro- 

 nounce on its properties, hence we conclude 

 that it is not poisonous, although we class 

 it with the poisonous species, because we 

 are not prepared to recommend it without 

 testing it. 



