EDIBLE FUNGI. 61 



CHAPTER XIV. 



EDIBLE FUNGI. 



There are a number of British fungi which are edible, but, 

 Avith the exception of the Common Mushroom (Agaricus cain- 

 pestris), it is hardly safe for anj-one lacking an intimate 

 knowledge of mycology, and especially familiarity with the 

 genera and species, to gather and eat them. However, we 

 will give a brief description of them. 



Common Mushroom (Agaricus campestris).— This is 

 the Common Mushroom of our uplands and meads, and the 

 one to which the cultural data given in this work is applied. 

 Indeed, it is the onlv kind cultivated, In the earlier stage 

 of its growth it is white, small, and globular; a little later 

 it expands into a convex or flatfish cap, with pink gills and 

 a rough brownish-white skin, or epidermis. The gills, too, 

 are not attached to the stem, but to a membraneous ring- 

 just clear of it. When fully developed and about to decay 

 the gills assume first a brownish and then change to a 

 blacki.sh tinge. The skin, moreover, readily peels off. In 

 gathering mushrooms in fields only those with pink gills 

 should be taken ; then there will be no risk of danger arising 

 through eating them. In a young state mushrooms are dis- 

 tinguished from the mature ones by the name of " buttons." 

 The true Mushroom in nature grows in open pastures or on 

 hilly slopes. Any apparently Common Mushrooms growing 

 under trees or in woods should be strictly avoided. 



Horse Mushroom (Agaricus arvensis). — This is a 

 very large species which grows usually in rings in pastures, 

 on "roadsides, and in thickets. Specimens of it are recorded 

 . as weighing 51b. 6oz. each, and measuring 43in. in circum- 

 ference. Another authority affirms that specimens have 



