Let us endeavour to make ourselves better acquainted with this formidable enemy of epicures. You will have no difficulty in finding it in any warm, close season, but especially in spring and autumn. The toadstool thrives indifferently in the shade of all the forest trees, but seems to prefer the oak and birch to the pine and fir. A patch of soft greensward, at the foot of an old oak, and in the neighbourhood of a "brawling stream" or "tranquil pool," will generally be covered with fungi of this description. The numerous synonyms attaching to it show how greatly it has exercised the classifying spirit of our naturalists. Some call it Agaricus muscarius, as if we should say "kill-fly mushroom;" others, changing only the specific designation, designate it Agaricus pseudo-aurantiacus,—which signifies, literally, "false orange," in allusion to the beautiful yellow colour of the true aurantiacus. What is certain is, that our mushroom, which can kill men as well as flies, belongs to the genus Agaric, so numerous in species that it can be formed into a family, that of the Agariceæ. The Agarics, of which the esculent mushroom (Agaricus edulis) represents the type, are easily recognised by their more or less fleshy pileus, or cap, garnished underneath with lamellæ, or gills, which radiate from the centre to the circumference, when the pedicel is in the centre.
Fig. 72.—"At the foot of an old oak."
But some cryptogamists are unwilling to recognise the orange mushrooms (les oronges), whether true or false, as Agarics. They place them in a separate genus, the genus Amanita, though without informing us where they found the name. Meanwhile, they justify the formation of the new genus by the presence of the white swelling, the volva, or wrapper, of the mycelium, or spawn, which entirely covers both the true and the false mushroom on its emergence from the earth. Each, then, is an Amanita. But now remark their specific difference. The true mushroom, as it develops, ruptures its ovoid wrapper, or volva, leaving the remains entirely at the base of the pedicel; while, in the false mushroom, the débris of the volva are formed, not only at the base of the pedicel, as in the real Agaric, but even upon the red surface of the pileus itself: these are the white irregular warts characteristic of the Amanita, but wholly wanting in the Agaricus. Thus, there are two Amanitas: the Amanita muscaria, or "fly agaric," and the Amanita aurantiaca, or, as the English botanists call it, Agaricus Cæsareus, the imperial mushroom.
This fanciful "study" in nomenclature has the advantage of initiating us into the most essential distinctive characters of the two species in question. However, a few additional details are necessary to complete our history.
The Fly Agaric, or Amanita muscaria.
The species seems to have been expressly created to teach our gourmands the necessity of vigilance; that before enjoying a dainty they must first learn to distinguish, under penalty of death, the poisonous fungus from that which safely and pleasantly tickles the palate. The warning is useful, moreover, as showing that even sensualists are not wholly exempt from the law of work.
Fig. 73.—The Amanita Muscaria.