ILLUSTRATIONS OF FUNGI— IV 



William A. Murrill 



PufTballs are the safest of all fungi for the beginner in 

 mycophagy, none of them being poisonous ; and they are at the 

 same time excellent and easy to obtain. The species represented 

 on the accompanying plate are mostly devoid of color and may 

 be easily distinguished without its use. Certain other species 

 requiring color will be illustrated in later plates. 



PufTballs are good either stewed, or fried in thin slices with 

 butter, but cooked in the latter way they are usually very rich. 

 Being tender they cook quickly and are easily digested. They 

 should as a rule be cut open before cooking to see that they are 

 not too old and that they are really pufTballs. If they are 

 white and firm like cream cheese inside, showing no yellow or 

 brownish discoloration, they are of the right age to use. If the 

 interior shows no special structures, but is smooth and homo- 

 geneous, then one may be sure he has a pufTball. The " egg " 

 of the deadly amanita contains the young cap and stem inside, 

 which is readily seen when the egg is cut ; and the " egg " of the 

 stinkhorn shows the stem and a green mass inside surrounded 

 by a layer of jelly-like substance. 



Pleurotus sapidus, a common edible mushroom found on dead 

 trunks and stumps, is represented in one view in Fig. 5. This 

 species will be described later, when more adequately illustrated. 



Lycoperdon cyathiforme Bosc 

 Large Field Puffball 



Plate 15. Figure 1. X § 



Peridium large, subglobose to turbinate, 5-15 cm. in diameter, 

 the base short and thick; surface smooth, glabrous or finely 

 floccose, whitish-gray or brown, becoming purplish and rimose- 

 areolate above with age, cuticle thin, easily separating ; capillitium 



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