Part 5

=TO COOK.= Make a batter, properly seasoned as for frying egg-plant, or beat up eggs for the same purpose; cut the puff-balls into slices half an inch thick, and fry in boiling fat or on a buttered griddle. Puff-balls are also very good stewed with the Coprinus, or with the ordinary mushroom, as their porous substance absorbs the stronger flavor.]

AGARICUS (AMANITA) VERNUS, OR POISONOUS WHITE MUSHROOM.

=DESCRIPTION.= PILEUS. At first ovate or bulbous, enclosed in the volva, then expanded, always pure white, usually clammy or viscid to the touch; cuticle thin, separable.

GILLS. Pure white, unequal, free from the stem.

STEM. Long, rough or woolly, stuffed or a little hollow toward the cap.

VOLVA. Always present. Ring marked at medium growth; often absent at maturity of the plant; and the same is true of the warts or scurf on the cap.

N. B. This mushroom to many persons has no disagreeable taste or smell. It grows in and on the borders of woods, and when half open may easily be taken for those in Plates I. or IV., if attention is not paid to the volva. It is deadly poison.]

POISONOUS MUSHROOMS OF THE GENUS AMANITA.

1. Agaricus (Amanita) muscarius. 2, 3. Agaricus (Amanita) phalloides. 4. Agaricus (Amanita) mappa.

=GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ABOVE.= Plant when just below the soil enclosed in a volva or wrapper, which as it matures remains (1) at the base continuing to sheathe the stem; (2) in the collar or ring; (3) on the pileus in the form of easily separable scales or warts. Generally free from disagreeable taste or smell, except at decay, when the variety illustrated by figures No. 2 and No. 3 is putrid and nauseous. Gills pure white at every stage of growth. Pileus very variable in color, from pure white to bright orange or red. All contain a deadly poison.]

POISONOUS OR SUSPICIOUS BOLETI.

1. Boletus felleus, Bitter Boletus. 2. Boletus alveolatus, Crimson Boletus. 3, 4. Boletus luridus, Lurid Boletus.

FIGURE 1 above is very much like Figures 2 and 3, Plate VII., of Edible Mushrooms, from which it is easily distinguished by its bitter taste and rosy tubes.

FIGURE 2 is a distinctively American species, and the authority for suspecting it is found in the fact that all Boleti which have red or red-mouthed tubes have been considered poisonous. Although valuable for an illustration of the lurid Boleti, this variety is probably edible.

FIGURE 3 is easily confounded with Figures 4 and 5, Plate VII., of Edible Mushrooms, if attention is not paid to the color of the tubes.]

POISONOUS OR FALSE CHAMPIGNONS.

1, 2. Agaricus (Naucoria) semi-orbicularis. 3, 4. Agaricus (Stropharia) semi-globatus. 5, 6. Agaricus (Naucoria) pediades.

FIGURE 1 and FIGURE 2 above are of a small mushroom which grows in lawns and pastures, and is very easily mistaken for those on Plate III. of Edible Mushrooms; but, first, they have no point, but are strictly orbicular; second, the gills are always discolored in age or decay as in Figure 7 above; third, the texture is soft, and the mushroom does not dry hard by the sun and re-expand with moisture as a Marasmius.

FIGURES 3 and 4 as also 5 and 6 illustrate species oftenest found in or on manure, and the above distinctions are equally true of these two varieties. The above are not known to be assuredly poisonous, but have none of the esculent qualities of the fairy-ring champignon. There are also other small fungi of soft texture and doubtful quality closely resembling these which grow in lawns and pastures, and the object of this plate is to teach the amateur to avoid all such. The suspicious varieties of Marasmius do not grow with the edible species, but in woods.]