The Project Gutenberg EBook of Toadstools, mushrooms, fungi, edible and poisonous; one thousand American fungi, by Charles McIlvaine and Robert K. Macadam This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Toadstools, mushrooms, fungi, edible and poisonous; one thousand American fungi Author: Charles McIlvaine Robert K. Macadam Release Date: March 8, 2016 [EBook #51393] [Last updated: March 21, 2016] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOADSTOOLS, MUSHROOMS, FUNGI *** Produced by KD Weeks, Dianna Adair, Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber’s Note: Minor errors in punctuation and formatting have been silently corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. The position of illustrations may have been adjusted slightly. The page references to them in the Table of Contents are linked to the actual position of each. GIFTS OF FOREST AND FIELD. TOADSTOOLS, MUSHROOMS, FUNGI EDIBLE AND POISONOUS ONE THOUSAND AMERICAN FUNGI Revised Edition HOW TO SELECT AND COOK THE EDIBLE; HOW TO DISTINGUISH AND AVOID THE POISONOUS WITH FULL BOTANIC DESCRIPTIONS By CHARLES McILVAINE PRESIDENT PHILADELPHIA MYCOLOGICAL CENTER, HONORARY MEMBER SALEM COUNTY AND GLOUCESTER COUNTY, N.J., MEDICAL SOCIETIES AND ROBERT K. MACADAM TOADSTOOL POISONS AND THEIR TREATMENT, INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS, RECIPES FOR COOKING, ETC., ETC. INDIANAPOLIS THE BOWEN-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright 1900, 1902 The Bowen-Merrill Company All Rights Reserved PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N.Y. CONTENTS List of Illustrations v Preface xiii Introduction xv Instructions to Students xxix Abbreviations of the Names of Authors of Species xxxv Names of the Principal Reporters of American Species xxxvii Text 1 Toadstool Poisoning and its Treatment 621 Recipes for Cooking and Preparing for the Table 635 Glossary 651 Index to Genera 690 Index to Species 692 Index to Recipes for Cooking and Preparing for the Table 702 Index to General Contents 703 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE FIG. TEXT PAGE PLATE PAGE Frontispiece, colored. I. Tabular view of the genera of Agaricaceæ 2 II. Leucosporæ. Chart of Genera 2 III. Progressive growth of Agarics 2 IV. Gill shapes 2 V. Ring shapes and positions; volva shapes 2 VI. Colored 6 1. Amanita spreta 11 2. phalloides (white var.) 7 3. phalloides (brown var.) 7 4. muscaria 14 5. Frostiana 16 6. Gyromitra esculenta 546 VII. Section of Amanita phalloides showing parts of an Agaric 3 VIII. Colored 18 1. Amanita chlorinosma 25 2. rubescens and section 21 3. strobiliformis 19 IX. Amanita muscaria. Half-tone 14 X. Colored 28 1. Amanitopsis vaginata 28 2. vaginata, var. livida 29 3. nivalis 29 4. strangulata 30 5. Mycena galericulata 127 6. prolifera 126 7. prolifera (section) 126 XI. 1. Lepiota procera. Section 33 XII. Colored 32 1. Lepiota Americana 48 2. naucinoides 45 3. cepæstipes 46 4. Amanita rubescens 21 XIII. Lepiota procera. Half-tone 34 XIV. Lepiota Morgani. Half-tone 36 XV. naucinoides. Half-tone 44 XVa. Americana 48 XVI. Colored 52 1. Armillaria mellea 55 2. mellea, var. exannulata 56 3. Lentinus lepideus 230 XVII. Armillaria mellea. Section 52 XVIII. Colored 60 1, 2. Tricholoma personatum 79 3. russula 65 4. terreum 71 5. columbetta 68 6. humile 81 XIX. Tricholoma (section) 59 XX. Tricholoma decorosum 67 v vi XXI. Tricholoma rutilans 70 XXII. Tricholoma terreum 71 XXIII. Tricholoma imbricatum 73 XXIV. Colored 82 1, 2, 3. Clitocybe ochropurpurea 108 4. ochropurpurea (section) 108 5. maxima 99 6. maxima (section) 99 7. nebularis 85 8. amethystina 107 9. odora 90 10. laccata 107 11. infundibuliformis 100 XXV. Clitocybe clavipes 86 XXVI. Clitocybe media 87 XXVII. Clitocybe monadelpha. Half-tone 88 XXVIIa. 1. Clitocybe multiceps 94 2. multiceps, var. 94 XXVIII. Colored 112 1. Collybia platyphylla 114 2. platyphylla, after rain 114 3. dryophila 120 4. fusipes 116 XXIX. Collybia radicata. Half-tone 112 XXIXa. Colored 96 Clitocybe illudens 96 XXIXb. Collybia velutipes 118 XXX. Collybia butyraceæ 117 XXXI. Collybia acervata 122 XXXII. Mycena galericulata 124 XXXIII. Hiatula Wynniæ 132 XXXIV. Omphalia umbellifera 132 XXXV. Pleurotus ostreatus. Half-tone 134 XXXVI. Pleurotus sapidus (section) 141 XXXVII. Colored 146 1. Hygrophorus pratensis (white var.) 152 2. pratensis (colored var.) 152 3. pratensis (after rain) 152 4. miniatus 159 5. cantharellus 156 6. virgineus 153 7. niveus 153 XXXVIII. Hygrophorus pratensis 147 XXXIX. Hygrophorus flavo-discus 157 XL. Hygrophorus fuligineus 158 XLa. Lactarius blennius 165 XLI. Colored 160 1. Lactarius piperatus 168 2. indigo 171 3. deliciosus 170 4. volemus 180 XLII. Lactarius hygrophoroides 180 XLIII. Lactarius subdulcis 182 XLIV. Colored 184 vii 1. Russula cyanoxantha 198 2. emetica 201 3. flavida 197 4. sordida 190 5. roseipes 209 6. virescens 194 7. puellaris 208 XLV. Russula (section) 185 XLVa. Russula purpurina. Half-tone 188 XLVb. Russula brevipes 189 XLVI. Colored 214 1. Cantharellus floccosus 218 2. Morchella esculenta 542 3. Cantharellus cibarius 215 4. cibarius 215 5. brevipes 219 XLVII. Cantharellus cibarius 216 XLVIII. Cantharellus rosellus 218 XLIX. Cantharellus brevipes 219 L. Nyctalis parasiticus 220 LI. Marasmius oreades 221 LII. Lentinus (section) 228 LIII. Lentinus tigrinus 229 LIV. Panus torulosus 232 LV. Panus strigosus. Half-tone 232 LVa. Panus strigosus 234 LVI. Xerotus degener 237 LVII. Lenzites 238 LVIII. Trogia crispa 237 LVIIIa. Schizophyllum commune 238 LVIIIb. Colored 238 Rhodosporæ. Chart of Genera. LIX. Volvaria bombycina. Half-tone 240 LIXa. Volvaria bombycina 240 LX. Volvaria volvacea 241 LXI. Colored 242 1. Pluteus cervinus 242 2. cervinus var. 245 LXII. Entoloma sinuatum 251 LXIII. Colored 254 1. Clitopilus abortivus 257 2. abortivus (aborted) 258 3. abortivus (aborted section) 258 4. prunulus 255 5. prunulus (section) 255 LXIV. Clitopilus prunulus 254 LXV. Clitopilus Orcella 256 LXVI. Leptonia 263 LXVII. Nolanea pascua 264 LXVIII. Eccilia atropuncta 265 LXIX. Eccilia carneo-grisea 265 LXX. Claudopus variabilis 266 LXXI. Colored 268 1. Hebeloma glutinosum 285 viii 2. Pholiota caperata 270 3. squarrosa 273 4. subsquarrosa 275 LXXIa. Colored 268 Ochrosporæ. Chart of Genera. LXXII. Pholiota præcox 272 LXXIII. Pholiota squarrosa 273 LXXIV. Pholiota adiposa 276 LXXV. Inocybe lanuginosa 281 LXXVI. Pluteolus reticulatus 282 LXXVIa. Hebeloma fastibile 284 LXXVIb. Flammula alnicola 290 LXXVII. Tubaria furfuracea 293 LXXVIII. Naucoria semiorbicularis 294 LXXVIIIa. striapes 296 LXXIX. Galera tenera 300 LXXX. Bolbitius fragilis 303 LXXXa. Bolbitius nobilis 303 LXXXI. Crepidotus mollis 304 LXXXII. Colored 306 1. Cortinarius squamulosus 318 2. violaceus 314 3. ochraceus 319 4. Cortinarius turmalis 309 5. armillatus 323 LXXXIII. Cortinarius collinitus 313 LXXXIV. Cortinarius albo-violaceus 316 LXXXV. Cortinarius asper 317 LXXXVI. Cortinarius squamulosus 318 LXXXVIa. Cortinarius autumnalis 319 LXXXVIb. Cortinarius annulatus 320 LXXXVII. Cortinarius cinnamomeus 322 LXXXVIII. Cortinarius armillatus 323 XC. Paxillus involutus 328 XCI. Colored 332 1. Agaricus variabilis 346 2. silvicola 343 3. placomyces 345 4. campester 332 5. campester 332 XCII. Colored 330 Porphyrosporæ. Chart of Genera. XCIII. Chitonia rubriceps 330 XCIV. Agaricus magnificus. Colored 342 XCV. Pilosace Algeriensis (section) 348 XCVI. Stropharia æruginosa 349 XCVIa. Stropharia semiglobata (section) 351 XCVII. Colored 352 1. Hypholoma appendiculatum 363 2. perplexum 354 3. sublateritium 359 4. Gomphidius rhodoxanthus 394 5. rhodoxanthus (section) 394 ix XCVIIa. Hypholoma incertum. Half-tone 362 XCVIII. Hypholoma fascicularis 352 XCIX. Psilocybe spadicea 365 C. Psathyra gyroflexa 367 CI. Colored 368 Melanosporæ. Chart of Genera. CII. Colored 372 1. Coprinus atramentarius 373 2. micaceus 378 3. Panæolus solidipes 385 4. solidipes (section) 385 CIII. Coprinus comatus. Half-tone 370 CIV. Coprinus macrosporus 375 CV. Coprinus fimetarius 376 CVI. Coprinus domesticus 381 CVII. Coprinus silvaticus 382 CVIII. Panæolus 384 CIX. Anellaria separata 388 CX. Psathyrella graciloides 390 CXI. Psathyrella disseminata 391 CXII. Gomphidius viscidus 394 CXIIa. Boletinus paluster 401 CXIII. Boletinus porosus. Half-tone 402 CXIV. Colored 414 1. Boletus gracilis 467 2. subaureus 414 3. castaneus 472 CXV. Boletus spectabilis 408 CXVa. Boletus subluteus 412 CXVI. Colored 420 1. Boletus eccentricus 470 2. badiceps 436 3. fulvus 465 4. subsanguineus 420 5. crassipes 452 CXVII. Colored 424 1,2. Boletus bicolor 425 3. rubropunctus 429 4. pallidus 429 CXVIII. Colored 436 1. Boletus separans 445 2. Russelli 436 3. illudens 439 4. scaber areolatus 461, 463 5. edulis 445 CXIX. 1. Boletus edulis, var. clavipes 445 2,3. edulis 445 CXX. Boletus affinis 448 CXXI. Boletus scaber 462 CXXII. Colored 468 1. Boletus indecisus 468 2,3,4. felleus 469 CXXIV. Strobilomyces strobilaceus 475 CXXV. Colored 476 x 1. Fistulina hepatica 477 2. Polyporus sulphureus 485 CXXVI. Etching 478 1. Polyporus fumosus 479 2. Polystictus versicolor 3. Merulius corium 490 4. Polyporus perennis and section 5. Dædalea quercina 6. Fomes igniarius 7. Trametes gibbosa CXXVIII. Polyporus frondosus. Half-tone 482 CXXIX. Polyporus intybaceus (section) 483 CXXX. Polyporus squamosus. Half-tone 480 CXXXI. Hydnum scabrosum 496 CXXXII. Hydnum repandum 497 CXXXIII. Hydnum albidum 499 CXXXIV. Hydnum coralloides. Half-tone 500 CXXXV. Hydnum caput-Medusæ 502 CXXXVI. Colored 508 1. Spathularia clavata 549 2. Peziza coccinea 559 3. aurantia 557 4. Cantharellus aurantiacus 216 5. Hypomyces lactifluorum 562 6. Hygrophorus coccineus 156 7. Craterellus sinuosus, var. crispus 510 8. cornucopoides 509 9. Cantharellus lutescens 218 CXXXVII. Sparassis crispa. Half-tone 512 CXXXVIII. Colored 522 1. Clavaria fusiformis 523 2. pistillaris (yellow var.) 524 3. Clavaria pistillaris (dark var.) 524 CXXXIX. Colored 516 1. Clavaria amethystina 516 2. aurea 520 3. formosa 520 CXL. Clavaria cinerea 518 CXLI. Clavaria cristata. Half-tone 518 CXLII. Clavaria circinans 522 CXLIII. Hirneola auricula-Judea 528 CXLIV. Tremella mesenterica 530 CXLIVa. Tremella mycetophila 531 CXLV. Tremellodon gelatinosum 533 CXLVI. Helvella crispa 536 CXLVII. Leotia lubrica 541 CXLVIII. Gyromitra brunnea 547 CXLVIIIa. Gyromitra esculenta. Section 546 CXLIX. Morchella semilibera 545 CL. Mitrula vitellina 548 CLI. Geoglossum glutinosum 550 CLII. Peziza badia. Half-tone 554 CLIII. Tuber niveum (Terfezia leonis) 565 CLIV. Tuber æstivum 566 xi xii CLV. Pachyma cocos (Tuckahoe) 567 CLVI. 1. Lycoperdon, parts described (section) 568 2. echinatum 568 CLVIII. Phallus impudicus. Half-tone 572 CLIX. Mutinus caninus 575 CLX. Geaster hygrometricus 580 CLXI. Tylostoma Myenianum 582 CLXII. Calvatia cyathiformis. Half-tone 584 Lycoperdon cyathiforme. CLXIII. Calvatia craniiformis 586 CLXIV. Calvatia elata 588 CLXV. Lycoperdon constellatum 592 CLXVI. Lycoperdon glabellum 595 CLXVII. Lycoperdon rimulatum 597 CLXVIII. Lycoperdon Wrightii, var. separans 604 CLXIX. Lycoperdon pedicellatum 600 CLXX. Lycoperdon eximium 601 CLXXa. Lycoperdon Curtisii 601 CLXXb. Lycoperdon Turneri 602 CLXXI. Lycoperdon pyriforme. Half-tone 602 CLXXII. Lycoperdon subincarnatum 604 CLXXIII. Lycoperdon pusillum 606 CLXXIV. Lycoperdon cepæsforme 606 CLXXV. Lycoperdon coloratum 607 CLXXVI. Lycoperdon acuminatum 607 CLXXVIa. Bovistella Ohiensis (section) 608 CLXXVII. Bovistella Ohiensis 608 CLXXVIII. Catastoma circumscissum 609 CLXXIX. Bovista minor 610 CLXXX. Scleroderma vulgare 615 CLXXXI. Polysaccum pisocarpium 618 CLXXXII. Mycenastrum spinulosum 613 PREFACE A score of years ago (1880–1885) I was living in the mountains of West Virginia. While riding on horseback through the dense forests of that great unfenced state, I saw on every side luxuriant growths of fungi, so inviting in color, cleanliness and flesh that it occurred to me they ought to be eaten. I remembered having read a short time before this inspiration seized me a very interesting article in the Popular Science Monthly for May, 1877, written by Mr. Julius A. Palmer, Jr., entitled “Toadstool Eating.” Hunting it up I studied it carefully, and soon found myself interested in a delightful study which was not without immediate reward. Up to this time I had been living, literally, on the fat of the land—bacon; but my studies enabled me to supplement this, the staple dish of the state, with a vegetable luxury that centuries ago graced the dinners of the Cæsars. So absorbing did the study become from gastronomic, culinary and scientific points of view, that I have continued it ever since, with thorough intellectual enjoyment and much gratification of appetite as my reward. I hope to interest students in the study as I am myself interested. For twenty years my little friends—the toadstools—have been my constant companions. They have interested me, delighted me, fed me, and I have found much pleasure in making the public acquainted with their habits, structure, lusciousness and food value. My researches have been confined to the species large enough to appease the appetite of a hungry naturalist if found in reasonable quantity; and my work has been devoted to segregating the edible and innocuous from the tough, undesirable and poisonous kinds. To accomplish this, because of the persistent inaccuracy of the books upon the subject, it was necessary to personally test the edible qualities of hundreds of species about which mycologists have either written nothing or have followed one another in giving erroneous information. While often wishing I had not undertaken the work because of the unpleasant results from personally testing fungi which proved to be poisonous, my reward has been generous in the discovery of many delicacies among the more than seven hundred edible varieties I have found. For ten years I have planned to publish in book form what I know about toadstools; each effort to compile my information has shown me how much more I ought to know before going into print. Even now my work is still unfinished. I am urged by my many toadstool friends (as I lovingly call those who, from all over the land, send me specimens for identification, and grow interested with me in the work), to publish what I already know upon the subject, that they, and others, may have a helpful book to guide them to a goodly portion of the edible species, and away from those that are inedible or poisonous. In this book I comply with these requests. I have selected over seven hundred of the most plentiful and best varieties for the table, from my toadstool bill of fare; and I describe and caution against several species, some of which are deadly in their effects, if eaten; others of which induce ill-effects more or less serious. One thousand species and varieties are named and described. Birds, flowers, insects, stones delight the observant. Why not toadstools? A tramp after them is absorbing, study of them interesting, and eating of them health-giving and supremely satisfying. Charles McIlvaine. xiii xiv INTRODUCTION America is without a text-book of the American species of Fungi, among which the edible and poisonous varieties are found. Many excellent but expensive foreign volumes describe species common to both continents, and several special but widely scattered monographs have been published here. The need of the mycologist, mycophagist and amateur toadstool student is a book giving the genus, names and descriptions of the prominent American toadstools whose edibility has been tested, or whose poisonous qualities have been discovered. The absence of such a book, and the universal and rapidly- growing interest all over the United States in edible fungi, have led to the publication of the present work, which includes every species known to be esculent in North America. As a precautionary measure, full explications of all those known or suspected to be poisonous are included. Many species found in this country only have been described and named by various authors, from the time of Schweinitz (1822) to the present day. These have been published in the botanical magazines and in the papers of scientific societies and colleges. The greater number have as author Professor Charles H. Peck, New York State Botanist, who has contributed an annual report each year from 1868. These appear in the reports of the State Museum of New York, and coming from the pen of our ablest mycologist are of great value to everyone interested in the study. The classifications and (in many instances) modified descriptions by such an eminent authority upon fungoid growth should therefore be the guides to American forms, that the confusion created by numerous descriptions of the same fungus by different observers may be avoided. Professor N.L. Britton, editor of the Torrey Botanical Club, has courteously given permission to use the descriptions of new species given in its instructive Bulletins. Professor A.P. Morgan and Laura V. Morgan, with equal courtesy, grant the use of text and illustrations contained in the most complete monograph published upon the Lycoperdaceæ (puff-balls, etc.) of America. While the scientific classifications and descriptions have been strictly followed, the language has been simplified—with no sacrifice of scientific accuracy—that this volume may be fully adapted to popular use. Professor Peck has given his valuable assistance in the identification of many species, all that were difficult or obscure having been submitted to him, and the writer is deeply indebted to him for many and long-continued courtesies, aiding in study and in the preparation of this work. Several new species have been found by the writer, the greater part of excellent food value. He preferred that these should be named, described and placed in their proper genus and section by Professor Peck, believing it to be best for the discoverers of new species to defer to one whose vast experience enables him to name and classify in accordance with the demands of American species. Where a species is vouched for as edible, it has been personally tested by the author and his willing undertasters up to eating full meals of it, or at least beyond all doubt as to its safety. Where others have eaten species which he has not had the opportunity to test, their names and opinions are given. When species heretofore under the ban of suspicion are in this volume, for the first time, announced to be edible (there are many of them), personal tests have not been considered sufficient, as idiosyncrasy might have affected the results. Others, at the writer’s request, have eaten of the species until their innocence was fully established. In some cases, where the reputation of the fungi eaten was especially bad, scientists of note have made elaborate and exhaustive physiological tests of their substances, and in every instance confirmed the human testing. While species which contain deadly poisons are few, their individuals are produced in great number. Nicety in distinguishing their botanic variance from edible species closely resembling them is necessary. No charm will detect the poison. Eating toadstools before their certain identification as belonging to edible species, is neither bravery nor common sense. The amateur should go slow. The question often asked is: By what rule do you distinguish between edible and poisonous mushrooms? The answer usually surprises the questioner—there is no general rule. All such rules which have been given are false and unreliable. The quality of each was learned, one at a time. Sweet and sour apples alike grow on large and small trees, may be red or green, large or small, oblong or globular, and no visible appearance gives the least clue to the quality. In a few genera certain rules may be applied, as in Clavaria--all not bitter or tough are edible. But such generalizations are each limited to its own genus. The toadstools containing deadly poisons are thought to be confined to one genus of the gilled kind—Amanita, and to Helvella esculenta, now Gyromitra esculenta, to which are charged fatal results. The poisonous qualities of Gyromitra esculenta are not proven. Recent testings of this species prove it to be harmless and of good quality. By far the greater number of species contained in Amanita are notable for their tender substance and delicious flavor. By their stately beauty and unusual attractiveness both the poisonous and harmless kinds are seductive. Any toadstool with white or lemon- yellow gills, casting white spores when laid—gills downward—upon a sheet of paper, having remnants of a fugitive skin in the shape of scabs or warts upon the upper surface of its cap, with a veil or ring, or remnants or stains of one, having at the base of its stem—in the ground—a loose, skin-like sheath surrounding it, or remnants of one, should never be eaten until the collector is thoroughly conversant with the technicalities of every such species, or has been taught by one whose authority is well known, that it is a harmless species. This rule purposely includes the renowned Amanita Cæsaria, everywhere written as luscious. I regard it as the most dangerous of toadstools, xv xvi xvii because of its close resemblance to its sister plant—the Amanita muscaria—which is deadly. In the description of these species, other forcible reasons are given. Another deadly species—the Amanita phalloides—is frequently mistaken by the inexperienced for the common mushroom. Safety lies in the strict observance of two rules: Never eat a toadstool found in the woods or shady places, believing it to be the common mushroom. Never eat a white- or yellow-gilled toadstool in the same belief. The common mushroom does not grow in the woods, and its gills are at first pink, then purplish-brown or black. If through carelessness, or by accident, a poisonous Amanita has been eaten, and sickness results, take an emetic at once, and send for a physician with instructions to bring hypodermic syringe and atropine sulphate. The dose is 1⁄180 of a grain, and doses should be continued heroically until the 1⁄20 of a grain is administered, or until, in the physician’s opinion, a proper quantity has been injected. Where the victim is critically ill the 1⁄20 of a grain may be administered. In every case of toadstool poisoning, the physician must be guided by the symptoms exhibited. Professor W.S. Carter, by numerous exhaustive trials upon animals, has proved that atropine, while valuable as against the first, is not an antidote for the late effects of the greater toadstool poisons. (See his chapter on toadstool poisons, especially prepared for this work.) There are other species which contain minor poisons producing very undesirable effects. These are soon remedied by taking an emetic, then one or two doses of whisky and sweet oil; or vinegar may be substituted for the whisky. A few species of fungi are innocuous to the majority of persons and harmful to a few. So it is with many common foods— strawberries, apples, tomatoes, celery, even potatoes. The beginner at toadstool eating usually expects commendation for bravery, and fearfully watches for hours the coming of something dreadful. Indigestion from any other cause is always laid to the traditionary enemy, fright ensues, a physician is called, the scare spreads, and a pestilential story of “Severe Poisoning by Toadstools,” gets into the newspapers. The writer has traced many such publications to imprudences in eating, with which toadstools had nothing to do. The authoritative analysis of several common food species by Lafayette B. Mendel, of Sheffield Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry, Yale University, is given, and will correct the popular error about the great nutritive value of fungi, arising from previous erroneous analyses. While species are reported as found in certain localities, it by no means follows that their growth is confined to these places. A species reported as found in the Adirondack mountains, unless belonging to the few peculiar to northern regions and high altitudes, is reasonably sure to be more plentiful in a like habitat south and west of them. South it will appear earlier and its season last longer. Size is largely dependent upon latitude and may vary greatly in the same group. Temperature, moisture, favorable nourishment are important factors in growth. Each species has its favorite habitat, and will thrive best upon it. There are few things under the sun upon which fungi do not grow. Their mission is particularly directed toward converting decaying matter, or matter which has accomplished its work in one direction, into usefulness in another. They are the wood-choppers, stewards, caterers of the forest, converters in the fields and chemists everywhere. They can not assimilate inorganic matter because of the absence of chlorophyl in their composition, but in organic matter they are omnivorous. When they feed on dead substances they are called saprophytes; when their support is derived from living tissues, parasites. Scores of species of fungi were found in the forests, ravines and clearings of the West Virginia mountains from 1881 to 1885 inclusive, and eaten by the writer years before he had the opportunity to learn their names from books or obtain the friendly assistance of experts in identifying them. He knew the individuals without knowing their names, as one knows the bird song and plumage before formal introduction to the pretty creatures that charm him. After he was able to get European publications upon the subject, and by their aid trace the species he had eaten to their names, descriptions and qualities, he was surprised to read that many of them were warned against as deadly. As informed by these books, he properly ought to have died several times. It soon became evident that authors had followed one another in condemning species, some because they bore brilliant hues, others because they were unpleasant when raw (just as is a potato), rather than investigate their qualities by testing them. Here was a realm of food-giving plants almost entirely unexplored. The writer determined to explore it. Instead of the one hundred and eleven species then recorded by the late Doctor Curtis as edible, my number of edible species now exceeds his by over six hundred.[A] A. This book contains one hundred and fifty pages more than were originally estimated and promised to the subscribers. That all known edible and poisonous species might be fully described and published within one volume, the author was compelled to cut fifty thousand words from his manuscript. The localities from which species have been reported and the names of the reporters have been taken out, excepting where it was desirable to show that foreign species have been found in the United States, and where tested species have been found by the author. The principal cut has been from the notes of the author and of enlarged descriptions. Let us clear away the rubbish and superstition that have so long obscured the straight path to a knowledge of edible toadstools. Let us bear in mind that a mushroom is a toadstool and a toadstool is a mushroom—the terms are interchangeable. If toads ever occupied the one-legged seat assigned them from time immemorial, they have learned in this enlightened age that the ground is much more reliable, and so squat upon it, except when exercising their constitutional right to hop. Snails, slugs, insects of many kinds, mice, squirrels and rabbits prey upon good and bad, each to its liking, notwithstanding oft-repeated assertion that snails and slugs infect noxious varieties only, or that animals select the xviii xix xx innocuous only. We are warned against those which grow in the dark or damp; the mushroom of commerce is grown by the ton in the subterranean quarries of France, and everywhere in vaults and cellars for domestic use. The valued truffle never sees the light until it is taken from darkness to be eaten, and other varieties of the best prefer seclusion. The wiseacres tell us that they must have equal gills, must not have thin tops, must not turn yellow when sprinkled with salt, must not blacken a silver spoon, that we must not eat of those changing color when cut or broken, of those exuding milk, or those which are acrid, hot, or bitter, and give many other specifics for determining the good from the bad. These tests are all worse than worthless, for if confidence is placed in them they will not only lead us away from esculent and excellent varieties but directly into eating venomous ones. There are whole genera of fungi which are innocuous; but in the Family of Agaricaceæ, where the greatest variety of the edible and poisonous species are found, it is necessary to master one by one the details of their construction and learn to distinguish their differences as one does those of the many kinds of roses, or pinks, or hundreds of bright-faced pansies, and in the mastery of them lies the only charm that will safely guide. Carefully remove the first toadstool found from whatever it is growing upon, and with it a portion of that from which it springs. If it is the earth a curious white network is discernible, fine as the delicate spinning of the spider, spreading its meshes throughout the mass. It will often remind of miniature vines climbing over miniature lattices. This is the mycelium from which the toadstool grew. In many instances it penetrates the earth to a considerable depth, and takes possession of large territory. It is often seen as the gardener turns up the soil or its fertilizer, and is perhaps taken for a mold. If the specimen is gathered from mat of wood leaves, the same white vine is observable slipping in between its layers. If taken from a tree, the decaying wood is traversed by it. From wherever a toadstool is plucked, it is removed from its mycelium. This mycelium is but a thread-like mass of simple cells joined together at their ends and interlacing in a way a thousand-fold more intricate than a Chinese puzzle. Nothing in its structure indicates what its special product will be. The fungus which is plucked from it is in all its parts simply a mass of these threads—cells strung together, interlacing and ramifying. When the season favors, the mycelium—which has, winter and summer and from year to year, lived its hidden life, or has sprung from a germinating spore—develops a number of its cells in a minute knob, small as a pin head. At this point the cells make special growth efforts to bring themselves within the favoring influences of heat and moisture; this tiny knob labors within itself, producing cell after cell, which takes shape and function for the future toadstool. As it rapidly enlarges it pushes its way toward the surface of the ground, becomes more or less egg-shaped in this stage of its growth, and if cut in half longitudinally and examined, it will display what it is going to be when it grows up. Suppose that it belongs to the first of the two great sections into which fungi are divided under the classification of Fries, who modified that of Persoon. The first has the spores—which represent the seeds in plants—naked, and it is called sporifera or spore-bearing. The second, which has the spores enclosed in cells or cysts, is called sporidifera or sporidia- bearing. If the cap of a gill-bearing toadstool be laid, gills downward, on a watch crystal or piece of white paper for a few hours, or, in some instances, a few minutes, a complete representation of the spaces between the gills will be found deposited as an impalpable powder. These are the spores. The first section is divided into four cohorts. Two of these have hymeniums or spore-bearing surfaces more or less expanded. These are Hymenomycetes and Gastromycetes. In Hymenomycetes the hymenium is always exposed in matured plants, as with the common mushroom. When young, some plants are covered with a membrane. In Gastromycetes the hymenium is always concealed within a covering which bursts at maturity, as with the Lycoperdons or puff-balls. Cohort Coniomycetes includes rusts, smuts, etc., formed for the most part on living plants. There is no hymenium present. The spores are produced on the ends of inconspicuous threads, free or enclosed in a bottle-like receptacle called a perithecium. Cohort Hypomycetes is composed of those species of fungi commonly called molds. The spores are produced, naked, from the ends of inconspicuous threads. In the Agaricaceæ—the first family in Hymenomycetes—the young plant is completely enveloped. (Plate III, fig. B, p. 2.) Its head is as yet undefined and its body may be classed as dumpy, but shut in and protected are a great quantity of knife- like plaits (Plate III, fig. C., p. 2), on the outer surface of which, when the plant matures, will be borne its spores. It therefore belongs to the Hymenomycetes, and to the Family Agaricaceæ—gill-bearing. If the ground becomes moist or there comes a heavy dew or a rain, the young plant, closely compacted and very solid, which has been under the surface for many days waiting its chance to get forth to light and air, rapidly swells, breaks through the moistened earth, goes rapidly to cell-making, ruptures its outside covering, the head expands and in so doing spreads out its gills or hymenium. (Plate III, figs. C, D, E, p. 2.) The membrane which covered the gills either vanishes, or gathers round the stem in the form of a ring or circular apron, or it may partially adhere to the edges of the top, cap or pileus and hang as a fringe from it; the stem elongates; the whole plant assumes the colors of its species and in a few hours or days at most it stands forth, a marvel of beauty, structure and workmanship. But little is known of how these spores reproduce themselves. The microscope fails to completely penetrate the mystery. A whole fungus is but a mass of cells, the spore is but one of them. That these simple cells do produce after their kind there is no doubt, but so minute is the germ and hidden its methods that science has failed to solve them. The first Family of Hymenomycetes is Agaricaceæ. Its members always have gills or modifications of them. In some cases —notably in Cantharellus—the gills have the appearance of smooth, raised veins over which is the spore-bearing surface. The hymenium is but an extension of the fibers of the cap, folded up like the plaits and flutings of ruffles, and laundered with exquisite neatness. If it is carefully detached and spread out like a fan it will cover a large surface, many times the size of xxi xxii