lvi
Journal of Proceedings.
celebrated as that used by the Empress Agrippina, the mother of Nero,
to conceal the taste of the poison she administered to her husband, is
eminently eatable, but unfortunately it does not occur in this country.
A. rubescens is good enough, for all its evil repute, though it is not very
tasty even when properly prepared. A. vernus is another species only
considered to be poisonous, but A. phalloides, so common everywhere,
is known to be so, and Mr. Plowright has recorded a case of poisoning
by it (' Lancet,' 1879).
I must let off the rest of the white-spored Agarici, for I am unwilling
to call any Fungus dangerous unless it has been proved to be poisonous.
But in the group bearing pink spores, the sub-genus Entoloma is
decidedly dangerous. The graphic and fearful account given by Mr.
Worthington G. Smith of his experience of A. sinuatus is enough to
haunt one's memory whenever one sees a pink-spored Agaric. How
many more species there are in this group, with the same furiously
poisonous properties, I hope that none of my hearers will ever per-
sonally ascertain.
Among the brown-spored Agarics, Hebeloma crustuliniformis is said to
be very dangerous ; but only, I believe, from its strong and disagreeable
odour.
The division with purple spores we do not willingly condemn, con-
taining as it does the mushroom of commerce. But there is no doubt
that it does contain some really baneful species. The common little
"Liberty-cap," A. (Psilocybe) semilanceatus, has often been the death of
children in the country. That the pretty verdigris-green A. (Stropharia)
aeruginosus is really poisonous, is, I believe, simply a conjecture. Mr.
Berkeley says of the extremely common A. (Stropharia) semiglobatus,
" this is reckoned one of the most poisonous of the mushroom tribe, but
however strong suspicion may be against it, there is no positive evidence
to bring it in guilty of death." The allied and very common A.
(Hypholoma) fascicularis tastes so bitter and repulsive that nobody
seems ever to have cooked and tried it fairly ; I, for one, certainly shall
not.
In the genus Coprinus there are so many dainties that I am glad no
species has been authoritatively condemned, though 0, picaceus is
suspected.
Hygrophori, too, are in so many instances excellent, that I do not like
to join those who condemn H. conicus as dangerous; I shall simply
leave it untasted.
The genus Lactarius must always be looked upon as suspicious.
Although L. deliciosus so well deserves its name, I hope none but my
enemies—if I have any—will try L. torminosus, rufus, pyrogalus, or acris,
unless they first remove both poison and taste by constant scaldings—
and make their wills. L. piperatus has lately been vaunted as an
instance of a delicious food being condemned through its not having
first undergone the necessary culinary operations; I hope to try it some
day.
There is no doubt that one must also be careful among the Russulae.
The very name of R. emetica is enough to make us avoid it.
The delicious Chantarelle is said to have a dangerous double,
Cantharellus aurantiacus, easily known from it by its thinner and more
crowded gills; but I doubt the necessity of its rejection for culinary
purposes; it seems to have been condemned unheard.
The delicate Champignon, Marasmius oreades, has certainly a dan-
gerous congener, M. urens; but its more slender habit, the mealy skin,
with a white downy base, and the narrower, darker, and crowded gills,
and its growth in woods, readily distinguish it.