SOME EDIBLE AND POISONOUS FUNGI. 469 



The most strikiiig species is the giant puffball [Lycoperdon gigan- 

 teum), Avhich is not rarely 40 inches in circumference. It has a smooth 

 white surface like kid, which becomes brown when old, and when a 

 number of them are seen on the ground at a distance they look like a 

 flock of miniature sheep. The species is not common except in cer- 

 tain localities, as the ]*egion of San Francisco Ba}", but when a single 

 large specLmen is found it furnishes enough food for some days. The 

 fiesli is firm and white or pale yellow green when in condition for eat- 

 ing, but when mature the interior becomes a mass of yellowish-olive 

 powder. 



Another species, Lycoperdon cyathiforme, PI. XXX, is much more 

 common, growing in lawns and other grassy places, where it forms 

 fairy rings, which sometimes injure the lawns in suburban districts. 

 It is frequently 6 inches in diameter, and differs in shape from the 

 giant puffball in not being a flattened sphere, but broader and flat- 

 tened at the top and contracted toward the base. It varies from 

 white to brown, and, except when quite young, tlie outer membrane 

 of the top of the puffball is marked in a tessellated manner. The ripe 

 spores are blackish i3urple when mature, unlike those of the giant 

 puffball. There are a few other large species, but most of the puff- 

 balls so common in pastures are not more than from 1 to 3 inches in 

 diameter. 



With possibly one exception, and the records of injury done in this 

 case are not very conclusive, none of the puffballs are poisonous if 

 eaten before the interior becomes crumbly and powdery. The sus- 

 pected species, ScJeroderjna vidgare, very common around houses and 

 gardens and along roadsides, is 2 or 3 inches in diameter, very tough 

 and hard, with a yellowish-brown, warty exterior, and within is purple 

 black, marbled with white. Its solidity, coarse external warted wall, 

 and the marbled interior, which remains hard and solid until the 

 fungus is quite old, serve to distinguish it from the softer, thinner- 

 walled edible species. It may perhaps be a question whether this spe- 

 cies is really dangerous, but at all events it offers few attractions to 

 the fungus eater. 



SUMMARY. 



In conclusion, it is onl}^ necessary to give a summary of the preced- 

 ing pages in the form of certain rules to guide the collector. Most of 

 the rules have exceptions, which are well known to experts, but 

 the beginner is of course under the necessitj^ of following the rules 

 implicitly, for an imperfect guide is better than none at all. 



It is a rule of whist that when one is in doubt he should take the 

 trick, but in the case of fungi the reverse is true. If one has any 

 doubt as to Avhether a fungus which he has collected is edible or not, 

 he should act on the supposition that it is not edible, or at least that 

 it is under suspicion, and should be exi)erimented upon with great 

 care. 



