APR< ttii:] ^A WA3IUIIA.- ON A BOIiSmOUSlmNG US. , 113 



of the pupils, or disintegration. The third patient was cured 

 in three days after attending the hospitalV the second and the 

 fourth in two weeks"; but the firs^ patient ttnfOrtuonately be- 

 came worse day by day, so that on 10th" day after entering 

 the hospital the patient died, having been in a comatose state 

 for sometime. 



IV. The Form and the Character of this rungus. 



As already mentioned, Lactarais tormixzos^s (Schaeff) Fr: 

 is a poisonous fungus well known in Europe, America, and 

 ^ome parts of Asia. Consequently much has been written in 

 many foreign books about the form and the character of this 

 species. But, to describe the Japanese plant, will not be 

 entirely useless in order to compare it with the foreign 

 specimen. .' 



Pileus, 5 — 10 cm. in diameter ; surface smooth and more or 

 less covered with fine t omenta, viscid when moist, depressed in 

 the centre, light yellowdish brown colour with a hue of pink ; 

 in the early stages, several concentric zones of darker .shades 

 appear distintly, but grow fainter when old ; margin strongly? 

 incurved when young and never turned up even \yhen old, 

 abundant whitish hairs form apparent veil which is Tdistinctive 

 of early stages, but disappears in older specimens. Flesh-, 

 forming a vesiculose tissue, fragile, light fleshy colourj exudes 

 white milky juice when broken, unchangeable when coming 

 into contact with the air, very acrid to the taste. Gills, de- 

 current, thin, crowded, in rare insta,nces forked, the wideness 

 of the gills almost similar to the thickness of the flesh ; general 

 colour of the gills, pale yellowish brown, exude white milky 

 juice from broken or injured portion: Spores, whitish in jniiss, 

 globose, echinulate, 7—9 in diameter. Stem, cyrindrical, general- 

 ly tapering toward the roots, 3—6 cm. in length, 1—2 cm.', in 

 diameter, surface smooth, paler than the pileus, sometinaes 

 pitted, hollow, exudes milky juice when bruised. This fungus 

 grows usually in lawn in the woods during October. 



