Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 11.djvu/107

Rh of the meadow-mushroom after these latter have passed through the system of the horse.

At first, this mushroom resembles a puff-ball, but it soon discloses under the cap a veil or web, which ruptures and exposes the gills free from the stem, with a faint shade of pink. This color deepens more and more, passing through purple into black. When pink, the ring around the stem is quite perfect, but I have found older specimens with not a trace of ring or veil. The top is every shade from pure white to deep brown; and, altogether, I can only advise the amateur to have one identified by an expert, if possible. Though difficult to describe, the taste and smell are so peculiar to the species that there is not much danger of deception when once you have made their acquaintance.

The most easily-recognized agaric is the maned mushroom (Coprinus comatus). When fit for food, it is the shape of a turtle's egg; that is, ovate, but alike at each end. The top is brown and smooth but toward the earth the outer skin ruffles up, making a white mane or fringe of concentric layers around it. The stem is hollow, and on being cut appears, as it cooks, like macaroni. There is a ring round the stem, which is movable in the well-developed plant. Very soon after acquiring its growth the points of the gills turn black, sometimes running into pink; then it opens umbrella-like, and melts into an inky fluid. This was the first fungus we dared to eat on our own recognition, and has no poisonous counterpart. It should never be eaten either stale or having black gills, or when found around dust heaps or other offal.

The second experiment was made on the elm-tree mushroom (Agaricus ulmarius). It grows only in fall on the elm, has a thick, solid stem (sometimes set in the side), broad white gills, firm white flesh, and a light-yellow top, at first smooth, finally spotted and cracked. Older, the gills turn yellow and the top very leathery. I know of no other large fungus with gills and white flesh growing from the elm. It is most common in a cleft, or where a limb has been sawed off, and often reappears yearly in the same spot.

The family of the Russulæ is quite safe for beginners. In the common mushroom you will notice the gills are pliable; the flesh also can be bent without breaking. The milk-mushrooms and the Russulæ are very brittle; the gills do not mat down like the horse-mushroom, or the elm-tree mushroom; they break into small pieces, while the whole fungus snaps suddenly on being bent. If milk or juice comes, I advise the amateur to reject the specimens. A novice should not attempt to cook them. If they are perfectly dry, taste a small piece. If it is not an edible russula, it will be likely to bite and sting the tongue, while all the esculent varieties of the genus are tasteless, mild, or with the flavor of chestnuts. There is one very common variety (Russula alutacea) with a bright-red top, buff-colored