Abstract
IT may be safely asserted that fewer kinds of fungi are used for food in Great Britain than in any other country in Europe. This is the more remarkable when we take into consideration the indebtedness of the present advanced state of Mycology to the researches of our countrymen, amongst whom may be mentioned Bolton, Sowerby, Badham, Berkeley, and Broome. The author of the work under consideration has also contributed very materially to a knowledge of edible kinds of fungi by various publications, and more especially in promoting annual fungus forays in various parts of the country. Poisonous fungi liable to be confounded with the numerous edible kinds are very few in number, and the majority of casualties, both at home and abroad, are caused by eating Amanita phalloides, a fungus very different in appearance from the common mushroom (Agaricus campestris), but which, probably from its neat and attractive appearance and size, appears to commend itself to unsuspecting persons, and being usually very abundant and widely distributed, is likely to be a continual source of danger until its characters and general appearance are more generally known.
Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms.
By Dr. M. C. Cooke. (London: S.P.C.K., 1894.)
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 51, 8 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/051008b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/051008b0