470 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The different popular tests for distinguishing edible from poisonous 

 fungi, such as, for instance, the blackening of a silver coin or spooi|| 

 when placed in a mass of poisonous fungi while they are being cooked, 

 are all absolutely worthless. There is no test which can be applied,] 

 nor should reliance be placed, at least by the beginner, upon the faci 

 that in some cases the poisonous substances may be removed by cook 

 ing in milk or vinegar. In such cases the danger may be onlj^ increase" 

 unless care is taken to remove all the vinegar or milk, and, in general, 

 common sense warns us not to eat any fungus supposed to contain an 

 active poison which requires to be removed by special treatment. The 

 eating of such species should be left to the scientific experimenter 

 On the other hand, it need not be assumed that a fungus is poisonoui 

 when it is merely indigestible in consequence of the way in which i 

 is cooked. 



It is beyond the province of this paper to discuss the nature of th< 

 poison of different fungi, but it should be said in general that the poi- 

 sonous effects are of two kinds: The irritant, which affect the stomacl 

 and digestive organs directly, and show their effects soon after eating 

 and the narcotic, much more dangerous, which act upon the nervoui 

 centers and do not produce poisonous symptoms until after a numbe: 

 of hours, usually eight or ten. The irritant fungi are often recogniz- 

 able by their taste when raw, but the narcotic species are general! 

 pleasant to the taste, or at least not disagreeable. 



The following rules should not be neglected by the beginner: 



(1) Avoid fungi when in the button or unexpanded stage; also those' 

 in which the flesh has begun to decay, even if only slightly. 



(2) Avoid all fungi which have stalks with a swollen base sur 

 rounded by a sac-like or scaly envelope, especially if the gills are 

 white. 



(3) Avoid fungi having a milky juice, unless the milk is reddish, 



(4) Avoid fungi in which the cap, or pileus, is thin in proportion t< 

 the gills, and in which the gills are nearly all of equal length, espe 

 cially if the pileus is bright colored. 



(5) Avoid all tube-bearing fungi in which the flesh changes coloi 

 when cut or broken or where the mouths of the tubes are reddish, 

 and in the case of other tube-bearing fungi experiment with caution, 



(6) Fungi which have a sort of spider web or flocculent ring roun^ 

 the upper part of the stalk should in general be avoided. 



Rules 1, 2, and 5 may for the beginner be regarded as absolute,] 

 with the exception to rule 2, Amanita ccesarea (p. 458), the gills o: 

 which are yellow. Rules 3, 4, and 6 have more numerous exceptions, 

 but these rules should be fo^ owed in all cases unless the collector is 

 content to experiment first wHh very small quantities and learn the 

 practical result. 



