A FEW COMMON MUSHROOMS. 
21 
men, if an Amanita, shows the undeveloped umbrella form 
within the volva. These puff-balls may be found from June 
to November, especially where cattle are pastured. The 
smaller ones, peeled and cooked in cream or white sauce, and 
the larger ones, cut in slices and fried, make a most delicious 
dish. 
While the terms fleshy fungus, mushroom and toadstool are 
used indiscriminately or interchangeably, there is one fungus to 
which the name “mushroom” specially belongs, this is the 
mushroom of the markets already referred to, the “pink gill,” 
or pasture mushroom of common parlance and the Agaricus 
campestris of the botanist, (Fig. 2.) It is the only species 
commonly cultivated, but it also grows freely in rich, sunny 
grounds, in lawns, gardens or pastures, but never in the woods. 
As before stated, the pinkish color of the gills is one of the 
distinctive points in its identification from the poisonous Aman¬ 
ita. The gills of the pasture mushroom are first pinkish, then 
ashy-pink and gradually change to a brownish-black color on 
maturity. The gills of the poisonous Amanita are always white. 
The stem of the pasture mushroom is almost white and near¬ 
ly solid, its length being about the same as the diameter of the 
cap. In its youngest stages the cap is nearly globular and is 
the “ button mushroom ” of commerce. In its older stages it 
grows more and more umbrella shape and gains a creamy or 
even brownish tint. The gills are not attached to the stem but 
only to the cap. In the young stage its pink gills are hidden 
from view by a delicate membrane which covers the surface of 
the cap and is fastened to the stem at a point somewhat below 
the lower edges of the gills. This is the veil. As the mush¬ 
room develops the membrane is broken and gradually disap¬ 
pears, leaving a slight ring, or trace of one, about the stem at a 
little distance below the gill surface. The diameter of the cap 
is 2 to 4 inches, or even larger, in the “ horse mushroom ” which 
is a variety of the pasture mushroom and equally good eating. 
These mushrooms should be eaten while the gills are still 
pinkish, and are excellent cooked in any way in which an oys- 
