of sonH At sTHALi a. 
17 
different, may seem superficially to be kinds familiar to them. Snell persons 
are probably apt to make mistakes and ingest fungi here which are poisonous, 
believing them to he the same as edible species in the country from which they 
ciune. 
Mushrooms of various kinds, Boleti for instance, have been considered delicacies 
from Roman times. Sometimes deliberately, sometimes in error, poisonous species 
have been included in (he dish and have led to fatal results. Pope Clement VII. , 
two Emperors, King Charles VI. of France, one of the Czars of Russia, and the 
family of the great poet Euripides, are considered to have been victims of mush- 
room poisoning. In some countries of Europe the deaths have been estimated 
as high as 100 or more annually. Numbers of deaths have also' been recorded in 
Japan and in the United States. It will thus be seen that where fungus-eating, 
or mycophagy, is prevalent, a considerable mortality may result through mistakes 
being made. 
In considering poisoning by toadstools one has to consider several aspects. 
Some kinds may be looked upon as being more unwholesome than actually 
poisonous, or may be found unwholesome for one person and not for another. 
By ‘‘unwholesome - ’ one means that they give rise to discomfort by proving 
indigestible, the discomfort being relieved by vomiting. Some persons can 
probably eat and enjoy certain kinds, whilst others are more sensitive and reject 
the food .just as they might an indigestible morsel. The horse mushroom 
(PanaUiota amen sis) is said to be unwholesome for some people, though it is 
eaten with relish by others. 
Another group of cases may possibly represent what Is termed “ sensitization.” 
Some persons, for instance, cannot eat strawberries, or porridge, or oysters, or 
some other particular food without feeling discomfort and developing some areas 
Of urticaria (nettle rash). Some people may develop attacks of asthma as the 
result of some particular food that has been ingested, or even as a result of 
inhaling dandruff from a horse in some cases, or material from feathers in 
feather pillows in other instances. So we may find a particular individual 
susceptibility to the common mushroom or to some other species edible to the 
majority. Persons showing this idiosyncrasy will probably show it to other 
substances as well and he liable to attacks of nettle-rash, asthma, or hay fever 
from such various causes. 
Coming to true poisoning by ■mushroom-like toadstools, we find that in other 
parts of the world the majority of the cases have been due either to poisoning 
by Amanita plnilloUlc, s, the “death-cup fungus,” or “white amanita’’ or “the 
destroying angel,” or to poisoning by Ai manita mmcaria, the “fly agaric,” with 
its scarlet warty cap. The poisons of these two species are quite distinct and 
each is very characteristic. In addition there are a number of examples of 
miscellaneous kinds of poisoning due evidently to definite toxic substances of 
unknown nature found in particular species. Though no known instances of 
poisoning by Amanita phalloides have hitherto been recorded in Australia it is 
advisable that the symptoms should he detailed as the species probably occurs 
and eases may eventually arise. The fly agaric has been found in various parts 
of Australia, though as yet no known instances of poisoning by it have occurred. 
Poisoning by Amanita phalloides *. — Amanita phalloides is a large fungus 
measuring Sin. to Sin. across with an umber brown or smoky olive cap, free gills, 
an ample white ring in the upper part of the stem, and a tall sturdy stem with a 
loose volva or cup at its base. The ring and the volva with the white gills and 
white spores indicate that the fungus belongs to the genus Amanita. Tt is wise 
to avoid absolutely all species having such a volva or cup at their base. It is 
true that some species of Amanita are edible, but others, as this one, are very 
poisonous, and so far in Australia no one has as yet experimented with our 
Amanitas. 
Very small quantities of Amanita phalloides may cause death. A child of 
ten died from eating raw a third of the top of a small plant, and two children 
after taking some of the juice soaked in bread. The mortality has been placed 
as high as 60 to 100 per cent'. After ingestion there is usually a stage of from 
6 to 15 hours, usually more than 10, in which little or no discomfort is felt. 
There is then sudden extreme abdominal pain, cramp-like in nature, with vomiting 
and with diarrhoea of undigested food with blood and mucous discharges soon 
*The accounts which follow of poisoning- by AnuvnUn phntloide^ and by A. musettria 
have been condensed from Dr. (). E. Fischer’s 'article on “Mushroom Poisoning” in C. H. 
Kauffman’s “The Agaricaceae of Michigan.” 
