SOME EDIBLE AND POISONOUS FUNGI. 4G3 



a collar or quite free. Comparatively few of our sj)ecies liave a dis- 

 tinct volva or wrapper round tlie base of the stalk, but it is very 

 important to know whether there is such a wrapper or not, since 

 our most poisonous species have them, and unless one is an expert 

 he should reject any toadstool having white gills and spores and a 

 wrapper round the base of the stalk or a bulbous base clothed with 

 scales. 



PARASOL FUNGUS, CHANTERELLE, AND FAIRY-RING FUNGUS. 



Among the white-spored species, which are more numerous than 

 the others, may be mentioned the parasol fungus {Lepiota procera), 

 represented on PI. XXVI. It is large and tall and can be seen at 

 some distance standing up in the grass where it grows. It is rather 

 tough and does not decay quickly. Its color is sometimes whitish, 

 but it is often brownish. The pileus is covered with coarse, flocculent 

 scales, and the ring is free and not fastened to the stalk. The para- 

 sol fungus is not likely to be mistaken for any poisonous species. 

 The same may be said of the chanterelle {Cantharelliis cibarms, 

 PI. XXVII, 1), which is common in moist woods, whether conifer- 

 ous or deciduous, in July and later. It is always of an egg yellow in 

 all its parts and differs from all the species hitherto mentioned in 

 having a crumpled, irregular margin, and a more or less depressed 

 ui^per surface, and particularly in having shallow, blunt gills, which 

 are prolonged down over the stalk in wavy ridges. 



The fairy-ring fungus [Marasmius oreades) is a small species, sel- 

 dom more than 2 inches broad, which grows in clusters in lawns and 

 pastures, and the clusters form circles or segments of circles, called 

 fairy rings, in the grass. There are, however, many other fungi 

 which form fairy rings, and this almost seems to be the normal 

 method of growth of species which frequent clear, level ground, but 

 the rings are not in many species so distinct as in this case. The 

 substance of the fairy-ring fungus is quite tough, and specimens 

 which appear to be dry and dead revive in rainy weather. PL 

 XXVII, 2, shows the fungus in its ordinary condition, and bearing in 

 mind that the gills are comparatively few and bulge out in the mid- 

 dle, that the stalk is tough and tubular, and that the pileus is thin, 

 of a pale yellow-brown or drab color, and often concave on top, with 

 the center raised in a knob, one ought to recognize this species, 

 although it inust be admitted it is not always easy for the beginner 

 by a description alone to distinguish it from some of the numerous 

 small species which grow among the grass in cultivated fields. The 

 spores of the fairy-ring fungus, however, are white, while those of the 

 species with which it may be confused are generally brown or black- 

 ish. Some of these small species with dark-colored spores are danger- 

 ous, and several cases of poisoning, although not fatal, have been 

 known to occur in this country, the small fungi growing in lawns 

 having been gathered indiscriminately and eaten. 



