A FEW COMMON MUSHROOMS. 
45 
retaining a trace of green. The color is mottled or in patches. 
The cap is at first globose in shape, then nearly plane and at 
length flattened in the middle. The flesh of the cap, the gills 
and the stem are white. The 
cap may measure five inches 
in diameter. Its gills are 
free from the stem which is 
solid though spongy within. 
Roasting or frying crisp in a 
hot buttered pan is considered 
the best method of preparing 
this mushroom for the table. 
Russalae never exude a milky juice as do the Lactarii to 
which they bear some resemblance. Their worst failing seems 
to be their attractiveness for insects. It is difficult to find 
these fungi uninfested by these pests, but the ardent mushroom 
eater soon learns to be as philosophical in this regard as is the 
cider drinker. Among the Russulae the only species to which 
suspicion of harmfulness attaches are those which have an acrid 
taste and it is never well to use any Russula for food which has 
not been tasted and found to be of milk flavor. 
In hard wood growth one may sometimes find growing upon 
the stumps or trees the beautiful salmon-pink and sulphur yel¬ 
low masses of the Polyporus sulphureus, ( Fig. 7. ) A glance 
at the under surface of this fungus will introduce the student to 
anew family of fungi — the Polyporeceas — or pore bearing 
fungi. All of the species heretofore described with the excep¬ 
tion of the puff ball belong to the family Agaricaceae or gill¬ 
bearing fungi. The Polyporii bear their spores or reproductive 
bodies upon the interior surfaces of minute tubes whose mouths 
form pores upon the under surface of the plant; while the 
Agarics bear them upon the surfaces of their gills. 
The sulphury Polyporus requires but slight description as 
there is no danger of mistaking it for any harmful specieSj 
indeed, pored fungi growing upon trees form a safe class of fungi 
for the beginner. This Polyporus grows from its u host ” tree 
