THE OUTCAST FUNGI 
plague which seemed to have sprung from the water- 
soaked earth. 
As a matter of fact, many of these children of damp¬ 
ness and decay are poisonous. Children, through the 
ages, have been taught to shun them, that they are un¬ 
clean things. To be sure, there is often a ruffled beauty 
in their graceful parasols, and some kinds take on fan¬ 
tastic coloring. Certain varieties may be eaten, but such 
is the danger of death from getting the wrong sort that in 
European towns there is a public official whose duty it is 
to inspect mushrooms. 
These pale plants are the pariahs of the plant world. 
They have abandoned the green that is its usual trade¬ 
mark. They make no flower, which is the plant-world 
symbol of reproduction. There is an unwholesomeness 
about them that makes them avoided by man. 
87 
