The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise

The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise, by M. E. Hard, M. A., is a guide to the study of mushrooms, with special reference to the edible and poisonous varieties, giving its habitat and time of growth. The text says the Ascomycetes, or sac fungi, are very easily determined because all of their members develop their spores inside of small membranous sacs or asci. The text says that in the mushrooms, puff-balls, etc., we find the spores were borne on the ends of basidia, usually four spores on each.

A species description says the pileus is two to four inches broad, fleshy, not compact, bell-shaped, then expanded. The text says the thin and generally uneven margin of the pileus and the one to four red bands around the stem, the upper one being the brightest, will distinguish this species from all others. A list of names gives Ban. as Miss Banning of Maryland, a student of Mycology, and Berk. as Rev. J. M. Berkeley, a leading Mycologist of England.