Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. Part 25

CHAPTER XVII.

COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION OF THE FLESHY FUNGI.

In the collection of the higher fungi it is of the utmost importance that certain precautions be employed in obtaining all parts of the plant, and furthermore that care be exercised in handling, in order not to remove or efface delicate characters. Not only is it important for the beginner, but in many instances an "expert" may not be able to determine a specimen which may have lost what undoubtedly seem, to some, trivial marks. The suggestions given here should enable one to collect specimens in such a way as to protect these characters while fresh, to make notes of the important evanescent characters and to dry and preserve them properly for future study. For collecting a number of specimens under a variety of conditions the following list of "apparatus" is recommended:

One or two oblong or rectangular hand baskets, capacity from 8--12 quarts.

Or a rectangular zinc case with a closely fitting top (not the ordinary botanical collecting case).

Half a dozen or so tall pasteboard boxes, or tins, 3 3, or 4 4, 5 inches deep, to hold certain species in an upright position.

A quant.i.ty of tissue paper cut 8 10 or 6 8 inches.

Smaller quant.i.ty of waxed tissue paper for wrapping viscid or sticky plants.

Trowel; a stout knife; memorandum pad and pencil.

=Collecting.=--During the proper season, and when rains are abundant, the mushrooms are to be found in open fields, waste places, groves and woods. They are usually more abundant in the forests. Especially in dry weather are specimens more numerous in rather damp woods, along ravines or streams. In collecting specimens which grow on the ground the trowel should be used to dig up the plant carefully, to be sure that no important part of the plant is left in the ground. After one has become familiar with the habit of the different kinds the trowel will not be necessary in all cases. For example, most species of _Russula_, _Lactarius_, _Tricholoma_, _Boletus_, etc., are not deeply seated in the soil, and careful hand-picking will in most cases secure specimens properly, especially if one does not object to digging in the soil with the fingers. But in the case of most species of _Amanita_, certain species of _Lepiota_, _Collybia_, etc., a trowel is necessary to get up the base of the plant in such a way as to preserve essential characters.

Even then it is possible, if the ground is not too hard, to dig them out with the fingers, or with a stout knife, but I have often found specimens which could only be taken up with a trowel or spade.

Species growing on sticks or leaves are easily collected by taking a portion of the substratum on which they grow. Specimens on the larger limbs or trunks or stumps can sometimes be "picked," but until one is accustomed to certain individualities of the plant it is well to employ the knife and to cut off a portion of the wood if necessary, to avoid cutting off the base of the stem.

It is necessary also to handle the specimens with the greatest care to avoid leaving finger marks where the surface of the stem or cap is covered with a soft and delicate outer coat, especially if one wishes to photograph the plant, since rubbed or marked places spoil the plant for this purpose. Also a little careless handling will remove such important characters as a frail annulus or volva, which often are absolutely necessary to recognize the species.

Having collected the specimens, they should be properly placed in the basket or collecting case. Those which are quite firm, and not long and slender, can be wrapped with tissue paper (waxed tissue paper if they are viscid or sticky), and placed directly in the basket, with some note or number to indicate habitat or other peculiarity which it is desirable to make at the time of collection. The smaller, more slender and fragile, specimens can be wrapped in tissue paper (a cl.u.s.ter of several individuals can be frequently rolled up together) made in the form of a narrow funnel and the ends then twisted. The shape of the paper enables one to wrap them in such a way as to protect certain delicate characters on the stem or cap. These can then be stood upright in the small pasteboard boxes which should occupy a portion of the basket. A number of such wrappers can be placed in a single box, unless the specimens are of considerable size and numerous. In these boxes they are prevented from being crushed by the jostling of the larger specimens in the basket. These boxes have the additional advantage of preserving certain specimens entire and upright if one wishes later to photograph them.

=Field Notes.=--The field notes which may be taken upon the collection will depend on circ.u.mstances. If one goes to the sorting room soon after the collection is made, so that notes can be made there before the more delicate specimens dry, few notes will answer in the field, and usually one is so busy collecting or hunting for specimens there is not much inclination to make extended notes in the field. But it is quite important to note the _habitat_ and _environment_, i. e., the place where they grow, the kind and character of the soil, in open field, roadside, grove, woods, on ground, leaves, sticks, stumps, trunks, rotting wood, or on living tree, etc. It is very important also that different kinds be kept separate. The student will recognize the importance of this and other suggestions much more than the new "fungus hunter."

=Sorting Room.=--When one returns from a collecting trip it is best to take the plants as soon as possible to a room where they can be a.s.sorted. An hour or so delay usually does not matter, but the sooner they are attended to the better. Sometimes when they are carefully placed in the basket, as described above, they may be kept over night without injury, but this will depend on the _kinds_ in the collection.

_Coprini_ are apt to deliquesce, certain other specimens, especially in warm weather, are apt to be so infested with larvae that they will be ruined by morning, when immediate drying might save them. Other thin and delicate ones, especially in dry weather, will dry out so completely that one loses the opportunity of taking notes on the fresh specimen.

Specimens to be photographed should be attended to at once, unless it is too late in the day, when they should be set aside in an upright position, and if necessary under a bell-jar, until the following day. As far as possible good specimens should be selected for the photograph, representing different stages of development, and one to show the fruiting surface. Sometimes it will be necessary to make more than one photograph to obtain all the stages. Also on different days one is apt to obtain a specimen representing an important stage in development not represented before. The plants should be arranged close together to economize s.p.a.ce, but not usually touching nor too crowded. They should be placed in their natural position as far as possible, and means for support, if used, should be hidden behind the plant. They should be so arranged as to show individual as well as specific character and should be photographed if possible natural size, or at least not on a plate smaller than 5 7 inches unless the plants are small; while larger ones are better on 6 8 or larger. Some very small ones it may be necessary to enlarge in order to show the character of the fruiting surface, and even large specimens can sometimes have a portion of the hymenium enlarged to good advantage if it is desirable to show the characters clearly. The background should be selected to bring out the characters strongly, and in the exposure and developing it is often necessary to disregard the effect of the background in order to bring out the detail of texture on the plant itself. The background should be renewed as often as necessary to have it uniform and neat. There is much more that might be said under this head, but there is not s.p.a.ce here.

=To Obtain Spore Prints.=--In many cases it is desirable to obtain spores in a ma.s.s on paper in order to know the exact tint of color produced by the species. Often the color of the spores can be satisfactorily determined by an examination of them under the microscope. One cannot always depend on the color of the lamellae since a number of the species possess colored cystidia or spines in the hymenium which disguise the color of the spores. The best way to determine the color of the spores in ma.s.s is to catch them as they fall from the fruiting surface on paper. For the ordinary purpose of study and reference in the herbarium the spores caught on unprepared paper, which later may be placed in the packet with the specimen, will answer. This method has the advantage of saving time, and also the danger of injury to the spores from some of the fixatives on prepared paper is avoided.

If for purposes of ill.u.s.tration one wishes pretty spore prints, perfect caps must be cut from the stem and placed fruiting surface downward on paper prepared with some gum arable or similar preparation spread over it, while the paper is still moist with the fixative, and then the specimen must be covered with a bell-jar or other receiver to prevent even the slightest draft of air, otherwise the spores will float around more or less. The spores may be caught on a thin, absorbent paper, and the paper then be floated on the fixative in a shallow vessel until it soaks through and comes in contact with the spores. I have sometimes used white of egg as a fixative. These pieces of paper can then be cut out and either glued to card-boards, or onto the herbarium sheet.

=Sorting the Plants.=--This should be done as soon as possible after collection. A large table in the sorting room is convenient, upon which the specimens may be spread, or grouped rather, by species, the individuals of a species together, on sheets of paper. Surplus dirt, or wood, leaves, etc., can be removed. A few of the specimens can be turned so that spores can be caught on the papers. If only one or a few specimens of a given species have been found, and it is desirable not to cut off the cap from the stem, the plant can be supported in an upright position, a small piece of paper slit at one side can be slipped around the stem underneath the cap, on which the spores will fall. Sometimes it will be necessary to cover the plant with a bell-jar in order to prevent it from drying before the spores are shed. Experience with different species will suggest the treatment necessary.

=Taking Notes on the Specimens.=--Very few probably realize the desirability of making notes of certain characters while the plants are fresh, for future reference, or for use by those to whom the plants may be sent for determination. It is some trouble to do this, and when the different kinds are plentiful the temptation is strong to neglect it.

When one has available books for determination of the species, as many as possible should be studied and determined while fresh. But it is not always possible to satisfactorily determine all. Some may be too difficult for ready recognition, others may not be described in the books at hand, or poorly so, and further the number of kinds may be too great for determination before they will spoil. On these as well as on some of the interesting ones recognized, it is important to make a record of certain characters. These notes should be kept either with the specimen, or a number should be given the specimen and the notes kept separately with the corresponding number.

MEMORANDA.

=No.=____. Locality, Date. Name of collector.

=Weather.=

=Habitat.=--If on ground, low or high, wet or dry, kind of soil; on fallen leaves, twigs, branches, logs, stumps, roots, whether dead or living, kind of tree; in open fields, pastures, etc., woods, groves, etc., mixed woods or evergreen, oak, chestnut, etc.

=Plants.=--Whether solitary, cl.u.s.tered, tufted, whether rooting or not, taste, odor, color when bruised or cut, and if a change in color takes place after exposure to the air.

=Cap.=--Whether dry, moist, watery in appearance (hygrophanous), slimy, viscid, glutinous; color when young, when old; whether with fine bloom, powder; kind of scales and arrangement, whether free from the cuticle and easily rubbed off. Shape of cap.

=Margin of Cap.=--Whether straight or incurved when young, whether striate or not when moist.

=Stem.=--Whether slimy, viscid, glutinous, kind of scales if not smooth, whether striate, dotted, granular, color; when there are several specimens test one to see if it is easily broken out from the cap, also to see if it is fibrous, or fleshy, or cartilaginous (firm on the outside, partly snapping and partly tough). Shape of the stem.

=Gills or Tubes.=--Color when young, old, color when bruised, and if color changes, whether soft, waxy, brittle, or tough; sharp or blunt, plane or serrate edge.

=Milk.=--Color if present, changing after exposure, taste.

=Veil.=--(Inner veil.) Whether present or not, character, whether arachnoid, and if so whether free from cuticle of pileus or attached only to the edge; whether fragile, persistent, disappearing, slimy, etc., movable, etc.

=Ring.=--Present or absent, fragile, or persistent, whether movable, viscid, etc.

=Volva.=--Present or absent, persistent or disappearing, whether it splits at apex or is circ.u.mscissile, or all crumbly and granular or floccose, whether the part on the pileus forms warts, and then the kind, distribution, shape, persistence, etc.

=Spores.=--Color when caught on white paper.

To the close observer additional points of interest will often be noted.

=To Dry the Specimens.=--Frequently the smaller specimens will dry well when left in the room, especially in dry weather, or better if they are placed where there is a draft of air. Some dry them in the sun. But often the sun is not s.h.i.+ning, and the weather may be rainy or the air very humid, when it is impossible to dry the specimens properly except by artificial heat. The latter method is better for the larger specimens at all times. During the autumn when radiators are heated the fungi dry well when placed on or over them. One of the best places which I have utilized is the brick work around a boiler connected with a mountain hotel. Two other methods are, however, capable of wider application.

1st.--A tin oven about 2 2 feet, and two or several feet high, with one side hinged as a door, and with several movable shelves of perforated tin, or of wire netting; a vent at the top, and perforations around the sides at the bottom to admit air. The object being to provide for a constant current of air from below upwards between the specimens.

This may be heated, if not too large, with a lamp, though an oil stove or gas jet or heater is better. The specimens are placed on the shelves with the accompanying notes or numbers. The height of this box can be extended where the number of specimens is great.

2d.--A very successful method which I employed at a summer resort at Blowing Rock, N. C., in the mountains of North Carolina, during September, 1899, was as follows: An old cook stove was set up in an unoccupied cottage, with two wire screens from 3 4 feet, one above the other, the lower one about one foot above the top of the stove. Large numbers can be dried on these frames. Care of course must be taken that the plants are not burned. In all cases the plants must be so placed that air will circulate under and around them, otherwise they are apt to blacken.

When the plants are dry they are very brittle and must be handled carefully. When removed from the drier many kinds soon absorb enough moisture to become pliant so that they are not easily broken. Others remain brittle. They may be put away in small boxes; or pressed out nearly flat, _not so as to crush the gills_, and then put in paper packets. The plants which do not absorb sufficient moisture from the air, so that they are pliant enough to press, can be placed in small boxes or on paper in a large box with peat moss in the bottom, and the box then closed tightly until they absorb enough moisture to become flexible. The plants must not get wet, and they should be examined every half hour or so, for some become limp much sooner than others. If the plants get too moist the gills crush together when pressed, and otherwise they do not make such good specimens. When the specimens are dried and placed in the herbarium they must be protected from insects.

Some are already infested with insects which the process of drying does not kill. They must be either poisoned with corrosive sublimate in alcohol, or fumigated with carbon disulphide, and if the latter it must be repeated one or two times at an interval of a month to catch those which were in the egg state the first time. When placed in the herbarium or in a box for storage, naphtha b.a.l.l.s can be placed with them to keep out insects, but it should be understood that the naphtha b.a.l.l.s will not kill or drive away insects already in the specimens. Where there are enough duplicates, some specimens preserved in 75 per cent. alcohol, under the same number, are of value for the study of structural characters.

CHAPTER XVIII.

SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF MUSHROOMS FOR THE TABLE.

In the selection of mushrooms to eat, great caution should be employed by those who are not reasonably familiar with the means of determination of the species, or those who have not an intimate acquaintance with certain forms. Rarely should the beginner be encouraged to eat them upon his own determination. It is best at first to consult some one who knows, or to send first specimens away for determination, though in many cases a careful comparison of the plant with the figures and descriptions given in this book will enable a novice to recognize it. In taking up a species for the first time it would be well to experiment cautiously.

=No Certain Rule to Distinguish the Poisonous from the Edible.=--There is no certain test, like the "silver spoon test," which will enable one to tell the poisonous mushroom from the edible ones. Nor is the presence of the so-called "death cup" a sure sign that the fungus is poisonous, for the _Amanita caesarea_ has this cup. For the beginner, however, there are certain general rules, which, if carefully followed, will enable him to avoid the poisonous ones, while at the same time necessarily excluding many edible ones.

=1st.=--Reject all fungi which have begun to decay, or which are infested with larvae.

=2d.=--Reject all fungi when in the b.u.t.ton stage, since the characters are not yet shown which enable one to distinguish the genera and species. b.u.t.tons in pasture lands which are at the surface of the ground and not deep-seated in the soil, would very likely not belong to any of the very poisonous kinds.

=3d.=--Reject all fungi which have a cup or sac-like envelope at the base of the stem, or which have a scaly or closely fitting layer at the base of the stem, and rather loose warts on the pileus, especially if the gills are white. _Amanita caesarea_ has a sac-like envelope at the base of the stem, and yellow gills as well as a yellow cap, and is edible. _Amanita rubescens_ has remnants of a scaly envelope on the base of the stem and loose warts on the cap, and the flesh where wounded becomes reddish. It is edible. (See plate 19.)