s 
JOURNAL OF MYCOLOGY. 
[VOL.II, 
iiiulerneath), Clavaria (wliicli are club-slmped, or of coral forms, having 
thin spore-hearing membranes upon tlieir upper surfaces), and Lycoper- 
dons, or common piilf-balls. 
Tlie ITydnei and Clavaria are nearly all edible. None of them are 
known to contain poisonous principles; but disturbances may arise from 
eating the tough and bitter varieties. 
Allot the putf-balls (Lycoperdons), having white llesh. are excel¬ 
lent, tender and nutritious, so long as the (lesh is white ; but when the 
llesh changes from white to yellow upon being cut or broken, it be¬ 
comes Iritter and unpleasant to the taste, and in that and later stages of 
age or decomposition, eating of them would be likely to produce effects 
analagous to those from eating stale or rotten vegetables. Those puff¬ 
balls dark inside when young (Scleroderma) are not considered edible; 
neither is it determined that they are not. No authority brands them as 
noxious; but they are coarse and uninviting. 
Of the lloleti, there are many luscious kinds; with mycophagists, 
they are great favorites; by the (*ommunity at large, they are not so 
well known, and are at present rarely eaten in this country ; in Europe, 
they foi'm a ])rominent article of food. Several varieties of them are 
supposed to be non-edilde, and many well-versed writers pronounce 
them highly pernicious; yet every toadstool season, careful experiment¬ 
ers remove suspected membei’s of the family from the black-list. There 
is no recorded case of death from toadstool-poisoning that has been 
traced to a Boletus; but that some of them contain a bitter, acrid, or 
slimy, principle which is hurtful, but which yields to such ordinary 
remedial agents as are suggested by the symptoms, there is no doubt. 
The noxious varieties of Boleti, as a rule, are bitter, and all change 
color to red or blue when cut or broken. This change of color should 
not indicate to the ydiysician that the Boletus is poisonous, unless it is 
accompanied by a distinctly bitter taste ; it should, however, put him on 
his guard. 
Of all the foregoing families of toadstools, it may be said that no re- 
coi’ded case of poisoning is ascribed t('> them. Every year the public 
journals chronicle deaths from toadstool eating, but they never mention 
what species of toadstool occasions them. It would be of great practical 
value if, whenever possible, this information were given to the public, 
and fresh samples of the injurious fungus sent to some mycologist for 
positive identilication. 
Many toadstools, like most edible things, cause sickness, not because 
they contain an inherent poison, but for the reason that they are fre- 
(piently overloaded with seasoning and rich additions, eaten in large 
(piantities, when in an improper condition for food, owing to decompo¬ 
sition having set in, tlie leathery nature of some varieties, or want of 
sufhcient cooking. Mr. Julius A. Balmer, of Boston, whose large expe¬ 
rience makes him an authority upon the subject, advises the use of sweet 
