CLITOCYBE SUDORIFICA AS A POISONOUS 

 MUSHROOM 



J. W. Roberts 



On October 15, my wife collected some mushrooms which were 

 growing on the Hall at Washington. I identified them as belong- 

 ing to the genus Clitocybe, probably Clitocybe dealbata. In order 

 to determine whether or not they were edible, I took a few 

 nibbles just before dinner on the evening of October 15. No ill 

 results were noticed. The next morning before breakfast, I ate 

 one entir; cap without any feeling of discomfort resulting. That 

 night at dinner my wife and myself ate about eight or ten each. 

 Those eaten at this time were creamed. We thought we noticed 

 no ill effects but I remember that I perspired more freely tKan 

 usual and remarked to my wife that the lights in a nearby apart- 

 ment house had a peculiar appearance. However at the time I 

 attributed the former to the fact that the heat was turned on in 

 our apartment and the latter to peculiar atmospheric conditions. 

 Since the flavor of these mushrooms was very pleasant more of 

 them were collected on the morning of October 18 and served 

 with meat that evening at dinner. My wife ate something like 

 eight of them and I ate probably twice that number. 



At about 6:45, or one half hour after dinner, I began to feel 

 very warm and was perspiring very freely. At about 7:00 

 o'clock my eyes began to give out and I was compelled to stop 

 reading. At 7 130 I looked at my watch and had some difficulty 

 in telling the time. At 8:20 I was so warm and perspiring so 

 freely that I opened the outside door of the apartment and put on 

 lighter clothing. Shortly afterward my wife came in from 

 another room and said she was not feeling well. I mentioned 

 that I could read no longer for despite my glasses which magnify 

 slightly, I was unable to see clearly. She at once said that she 

 could not see distinctly. To both of us all objects appeared 

 blurred. Lights appeared as sun-bursts of remarkable beauty. 



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