[Sidenote: =Volva scales permanent=]
The example figured in the plate presents the stem and volva as they
have always appeared in specimens obtained by the writer. In the
young individuals the stem is waxy-white, becoming later a dull, pale
ochre hue, the lower half being shaggy and torn, and beset with loose
projecting woolly points which resolve themselves below into scales
with loose tips curved outward, and so distantly disposed upon the
bulbous base as to leave _no marked definition_ of the continuous
rim or opening of a cup. But the cup is there, and in a section of
the bud state of the mushroom could have been seen, even as in the
_white warts_ upon the surface of the _younger_ specimens we note the
evidences of the upper portion of the same white _volva_. In many other
species of Amanita, notably _A. vernus_, as already mentioned, these
volva fragments generally wither and are shed from the cap. They are
thus not to be counted on as a permanent token. But in the fly-mushroom
they form a _distinct character_, as they _adhere firmly to the smooth
skin_ of the pileus, and in drying, instead of shrivelling and curling
and falling off, simply shrink, turn brownish, and in the maturely
expanded mushroom appear like scattered drops of mud which have
dried upon the pileus. Another peculiar structural feature of this
mushroom is shown in the sectional drawing herewith given. The shorter
gills, instead of rounding off as they approach the pileus (see _a_),
terminate abruptly almost at right angles to their edge. The contrast
from the usual form will be more apparent by comparison with the
section of the parasol-mushroom on page 114.
[Illustration: OLD SPECIMEN]
[Illustration: SECTION OF FLY-AMANITA]
Few species of mushrooms have such an interesting history as this. Its
deadly properties were known to the ancients. From the earliest times
its deeds of notoriety are on record.
[Sidenote: =Historical Amanita=]
This is quite possibly the species alluded to by Pliny as "very
conveniently adapted for poisoning," and is not improbably the mushroom
referred to by this historian in the following quotation from his
famous _Natural History_: "Mushrooms are a dainty food, but deservedly
held in disesteem since the notorious crime committed by Agrippina, who
through their agency poisoned her husband, the Emperor Claudius; and
at the same moment, in the person of her son Nero, inflicted another
poisonous curse upon the whole world, herself in particular."
[Sidenote: =Amanita dipsomaniacs=]
Notwithstanding its fatal character, this mushroom, it is said, is
habitually eaten by certain peoples, to whom the poison simply acts as
an intoxicant. Indeed, it is customarily thus employed as a narcotic
and an exhilarant in Kamchatka and Asiatic Russia generally, where the
Amanita drunkard supplants the opium fiend and alcohol dipsomaniac of
other countries. Its narcotizing qualities are commemorated by Cooke in
his _Seven Sisters of Sleep_, wherein may be found a full description
of the toxic employment of the fungus.
The writer has heard it claimed that this species of Amanita has
been eaten with impunity by certain individuals; but the information
has usually come from sources which warrant the belief that another
harmless species has been confounded with it. The warning of my
Frontispiece may safely be extended to the fly-amanita. Its beautiful
gossamer veil may aptly symbolize a shroud.
[Sidenote: =Forewarned and forearmed=]
By fixing these simple structural features of the Amanita in mind, and
emphasizing them by a study of our Frontispiece, we may now consider
ourselves armed against our greatest foe, and may with some assurance
make our limited selection among this lavish larder of wild provender
continually going to waste by the ton in our woods and pastures and
lawns. For it is now a fact generally believed by fungologists, and
being gradually demonstrated, that the edible species, far from being
the exception, as formerly regarded, are the rule; that a great
majority of our common wild fungi are at least harmless, if not
positively wholesome and nutritious as food.