470 
ESCULENT MUSHROOMS. 
of poison. In case of mistake, it may be well 
to mention, that to relieve a patient who has 
taken poisonous fungi, vomiting should be 
immediately excited ; and then vegetable 
acids should be administered, such as vinegar, 
lemon-juice, &c. It is a safe rule not to eat 
the less common, even of the edible kinds, until 
after they hate been soaked in vinegar, which 
extracts much of their poisonous qualities 
when these are present. 
In a former part of this volume (page 420) 
Ave have noticed a recent work on the subject 
of esculent funguses, in which are described 
upwards of thirty species, most of which 
abound in various parts of this country, and 
might be turned to valuable account as a 
source of food, and especially in times of 
scarcity. We propose to notice the principal 
of these, and to point out their relative im- 
portance ; before proceeding with this, how- 
ever, it may be as well to explain the different 
terms which are used in application to the 
various parts of fungi. 
In most fungi (that is, excluding the mi- 
nute species) two parts may be clearly dis- 
tinguished, namely, a stalk, and that which 
it supports. The stalk is, in technical lan- 
guage, called the stipes; sometimes this is 
considerably developed, in other cases, it is 
almost or altogether absent, but usually it is 
present in all the larger fungi which are 
worth notice as esculents. The upper part 
of the plant, supported by the stipes, (which it 
will be remembered in the common mush- 
room, is umbrella-shaped when the plant is 
fairly developed,) is called the pileus or cap ; 
this umbrella form is not constant with all 
fungi, but the pileus is usually more or less 
spreading at the top of the stipes. At the 
base of the stipes is the volva or wrapper, 
which is a membrane originally investing the 
whole plant ; as the plant becomes elongated 
and developed, however, it bursts through 
this wrapper, leaving it at the base of the 
stipes. Then there is the velum or veil, a 
horizontal membrane, which in the younger 
stages connects the edge, of the pileus with 
the stipes ; that part of the veil which re- 
mains attached to the stipes, in the more 
advanced stages, is called the annulus or ring, 
and invests the stipes like a loose collar. 
The hymenium is that part in which the spo- 
rules (reproductive germs) are immediately 
situated ; this part varies in character in 
different kinds, and the variations bear dif- 
ferent names ; in some it consists of thin 
parallel plates, called gills orlamellas, in others 
of anastomosing veins, of contiguous tubes, of 
pores, or of conical spines on the inferior sur- 
face. The internal substance of the pileus and 
stipes, is termed the flesh. We will now 
proceed with a brief description of those 
species set down as edible, in Dr. Badham's 
work, alluded to above, adding some others, 
and giving so much of their technical dis- 
tinctions as would enable any one with a little 
attention to recognise them. 
Agaric us. — Pileus with stipes, or fixed 
by its side ; volva, none ; hymenium,, com- 
posed of straight radiating gills. 
1. A. atramentarius. — Stipes about four 
inches high, swollen at the base, piped, juicy, 
fibrous : pileus somewhat fleshy, campanu- 
late with an uneven margin, greyish, becom- 
ing light reddish brown, slightly hairy, often 
corrugated, sometimes scaly at the apex : 
gills numerous, deep with clear veins, light 
brown, the edges grey or white, free, obtuse 
behind. — This species affords a fine ketchup 
when employed in a young state. It grows 
in tufts and is extremely common in gardens 
near dunghills and in waste corners, often 
growing upon stumps of trees in such situa- 
tions. Occurs both in spring and autumn, 
but chiefly in autumn. 
2. A. campestris. — Stipes two or three 
inches long, white, solid, fleshy, furnished with 
an annular veil : pileus fleshy, dry, convex, at 
length plane, white changing to yellowish or 
brownish, subsquamose or sericeous : gills, 
free, ventricose, pink changing to deep pur- 
plish-brown : flesh white. — This is our com- 
mon mushroom, the uses of which are well 
known. The plant is frequently gregarious, 
and is extremely common, occurring in pas- 
tures and meadows, less frequently in woods. 
It is met with both in the latter part of 
the spring, and in the autumn, but most 
commonly about September. Dr. Badham 
enumerates five varieties, which he dis- 
tinguishes by the following names and cha- 
racters : — a. edulis, the button mushroom, 
which has a white smooth continuous epider- 
mis, gills rounded at their posterior end, and 
a large somewhat funnel-shaped double ring, 
free, and sometimes moveable on the stem : 
(3. pratensis, which has a duskier pileus with 
ragged margins, gills ventricose, and the ring 
sub-fugaceous, of a cobweb texture ; the 
colour of the flesh is vinous : y. silvicola, 
which has pallid gills tapering equally at 
both ends ; the stipes with a very delicate 
ring, and bulbous at the base, showing traces 
of a volva : h. anceps, the hedge mushroom, 
unwholesome ; it has a fistulose stipes, the 
pileus when young is obtusely conical, at 
maturity flat, and more or less concave in 
age, the gills lurid red, the ring firm, broad, 
reflexed and persistent ; it is, moreover, ex- 
tremely light compared with its bulk : e. bovi- 
?ius, the ox-mushroom, which is very large, 
the pileus shaggy, at first nearly white but 
when mature of a rich tawny colour, some- 
times red-brown, the gills not ventricose but 
