News AND Notes 



225 



assumes a darker color owing to better nitrogenous nutrition. 

 This is believed to be due to the proteolytic enzymes acting on 

 the dead roots. There can always be distinguished a zone of 

 dark-green grass outside as well as inside the zone of dead grass. 

 The infected soil was found very impervious to moisture, owing 

 probably to the air which is entangled within the meshes of the 

 mycelium. It is thought that the fungus secretes a substance 

 toxic to itself so as not to be able to grow in the same soil three 

 years in succession. During the second year the fungus dies 

 and the grass gains the ascendency and flourishes, owing to the 

 increased nitrogenous material available. The secretion of this 

 toxic substance is believed to account for the disappearance of 

 rings between the places of intersection when fairy rings meet. 



Dr. E. D. Clark has called attention in the June Torreya to a 

 recent brief paper by Radais and Sartory which shows the impos- 

 sibility of removing certain of the most deadly poisons from 

 fleshy fungi by treating them with hot water. His translation 

 of this paper is, as follows: 



"The autumn of 191 1 has brought the usual outbreak of 

 mushroom poisoning, with many fatal cases, caused primarily 

 by eating Amanita phalloides Fr. The press considered that it 

 was doing a useful thing in spreading among the people, with 

 the authority of naturalists whose intentions were more laudable 

 than their knowledge, the incorrect and dangerous notion that in 

 treating the mushrooms with boiling water followed by repeated 

 washing in cold water, all danger in eating them had been 

 removed. For a long time mycologists have recognized that this 

 treatment will often remove certain very soluble bitter and poi- 

 sonous principles but they have never ceased to put people on 

 their guard against the inefficiency of this method in the case 

 of certain species, especially Amanita phalloides. The present 

 seems to be an opportune time to confirm this caution with ex- 

 periments. Our observations were made upon several poison- 

 ous species but with special reference to A. phalloides. We may 

 sum up the results of our experiments in the following words : 

 A. phalloides still preserves its toxic principle unchanged after 

 being heated to boiling for some time; in the dried state its 



