Krieger: Note on Coprinus comatus 201 



Coprinus comatus is not the only lawn-inhabiting agaric. There 

 are many others, among them one with a reputation for producing 

 just such symptoms as those described by Dr. Cleghorn. Its name 

 is Panaeolus campanulatus. It is quite possible that specimens of 

 this species were gathered and eaten along with the Shaggy Mane. 



Let us compare the symptoms of Dr. Cleghorn's cases with 

 those of a casef reported to have been caused by the Panaeolus. 

 Dr. Cleghorn's account, summarized, reads as follows : 



The plants eaten by the patients were found growing on a lawn. 

 Specimens gathered there on a previous occasion had been enjoyed 

 without deleterious effects. The last time, however, ten persons 

 in four different families were affected as if by a poison. The 

 effects were produced " even while the dish of stewed mushrooms 

 was still being passed." A few individuals showed the effects 

 later — after several hours. The symptoms were not unlike those 

 of alcohol-intoxication. The Doctor records failure of muscular 

 coordination, difficulty in standing, inability to walk, drowsiness, 

 lack of control of the emotions, bloodshot eyes, enlarged pupils, 

 and incoherent or at least inappropriate speech. Prostration was 

 absent. Action of heart and lungs strong and regular. The 

 vision of one patient was affected in such a way that the furniture 

 seemed bent, pliable, and in motion. Another had a temporary, 

 but complete, paralysis of the left arm. 



In Dr. Glen's case of Panaeolus-poisoning, we learn that his 

 patient, a poor man of Knightsbridge, England, collected one 

 morning some fungi which he cooked and ate for breakfast. 

 Eight or ten minutes after the commencement of the meal he was 

 " suddenly seized with dimness or mist before his eyes, lightness 

 and giddiness of his head, with a general trembling and sudden 

 loss of power, — so much so, that he nearly fell off the chair ; to 

 this succeeded loss of recollection ; he forgot where he was, and 

 all the circumstances of his case. This temporary deprivation 

 soon went off, and he so far rallied as to be able, though with 

 difficulty, to get up, with the intention of coming here for assist- 

 ance, a distance of about five hundred yards : he had not proceeded 



f Glen, G., " A Case proving the Deleterious Effects of the Agaricus Cam- 

 panulatus, which was mistaken for the Agaricus Campestris, or Champignon." 

 London Med. & Phys. Jour. 36: 451-453. 1816. 



