some one who really knows. All the general rules for guidance had best 
be dropped and these two adopted and lived up to : 
i. Learn to know each kind of mushroom for itself, so that the names 
“ Fairy Ring” and “ Blusher” may have just as distinct a significance as 
the names “ Bartlett ” pear and “ Baldwin ” apple. 
2 Unless you know beyond a doubt that a mushroom is safe to eat, 
don’t eat it. 
If a third recommendation were to be added to these, it would be that 
no mushroom that is too young to show its character or too old to be in 
good condition should be gathered for food, and that none should be kept 
long. If they must be kept at all, let them be prepared at once. 
With regard to the first recommendation it is to be said that no perma¬ 
nent character, however unimportant, should be allowed to escape obser¬ 
vation, and that characters that are critical, as aids to discrimination 
between good and noxious kinds, should be carefully noted and always 
sought for. As an example of the necessity of this the similarity in some 
respects of Amanita Frostiana and A. Caesarea may be cited. Both have 
yellow and orange tints; both a volva, veil, and ring; and, in spite of 
differences that distinguish them easily to one who is familiar with both, 
it has happened that A. Frostiana, considered poisonous, has been 
mistaken for the edible A. Caesarea. In one point, however, they differ 
absolutely. A. Frostiana has white gills, like A. muscaria , of which it 
has been called a variety, and the other Amanitas. A. Caesarea on the 
contrary has yellow gills. In A. Frostiana , however, the edge of the 
gills is not infrequently yellow, and thus may lead, and has led, the 
unwary into error. 
Another example of possible confusion is to be found in Amanita 
rubescens, and some forms of the deadly A. phalloides. Both plants vary 
in color and in the relative prominence of their distinctive characters. 
A. phalloides, however, never has the peculiar wartiness of the typical 
A. rubescens. A. rubescens never has the volva of A. phalloides, nor its 
smell. In the character of “ blushing ” it would seem that A. phalloides 
may sometimes slightly imitate A. rubescens, as the latter certainly often 
simulates A. phalloides in the color of its cap. 
A third instance where absolute accuracy in identification is necessary, 
one of the plants being deadly poisonous, is that of Amanita verna (or 
of white A. phalloides) and Lepiota naucinoides. Here the danger is not 
so great, for the plants do not grow together. The poisonous Amanita, 
which grows in the woods or on the edges of woods, is shining white, 
with gills that stay white, and has a distinct volva or margined swelling 
at the base. The edible Lepiota, which grows in grass land, and will 
soon be in season, is a dull white, with gills which turn slightly pinkish 
or dull colored soon after picking, and has a smooth bulbous base to 
the stem. 
In the cases so far spoken of the consequences of mistake might be 
most serious. In the following the danger is not so great, or is entirely 
absent. 
I o confound Russula furcata with R. vtrescens does little harm. 
R. furcata, well cooked, may be eaten, but it is not so good as virescens. 
Raw, R. furcata has a disagreeable taste, whereas virescens is mild and 
sweet; the gills of R. furcata are conspicuously forked, whence the name, 
those of virescens are usually simple, or forked only at the base. 
Again, Lactarius hygrophoroides is very like F. volemus, but has distant 
gills; both, however, are good to eat. 
Marasmius oreades, the very familiar “Fairy Ring” mushroom, grows 
often with other kinds that look something like it. One of these is 
