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EDIBLE AND POISONOUS MUSHROOMS OF CANADA<br />
consumed. It is apparently not dangerous, but in about twenty minutes to two<br />
hours the face may become very red and then violaceous and the color may<br />
spread to the neck and body. The tip of the nose and the ear lobes remain pale.<br />
There is a sensation of heat and the pulse beat becomes very rapid. The symptoms<br />
disappear in a short time and apparently there are no ill effects.<br />
There has been some controversy about this type of poisoning. Child<br />
(1952) described experiments in which Coprini were fed to a person with and<br />
without alcohol and no effects were observed, but when Panaeolus campanulatus<br />
was eaten by itself the type of symptoms described above appeared. He<br />
suggested that the reports of poisoning caused by a combination of Coprinus<br />
and alcohol might be due rather to accidental inclusion of Panaeolus with the<br />
Coprinus. However his experiments were rather limited in scope and European<br />
mycologists still insist that these symptoms have appeared in well-authenti-<br />
cated cases where there was no possibility of a misidentification of Panaeolus.<br />
The question may be regarded as still open but it would probably be advisable<br />
to avoid eating Coprinus and consuming alcohol at the same time.<br />
In any case of mushroom poisoning, medical assistance should be summoned<br />
immediately. As a first-aid measure the stomach and intestines should<br />
be emptied by inducing vomiting or administering purgatives or an enema.<br />
Parts of mushrooms vomited up, or the remains of the dish eaten should be<br />
preserved so that the species responsible for the poisoning can be identified. If<br />
any fresh mushrooms of the original gathering remain they would be still more<br />
useful for this purpose.<br />
IDENTIFICATION<br />
At first, mushrooms may all look rather similar but as we observe them<br />
more closely and become more interested in them, differences and similarities<br />
are perceived and more and more species are recognized. Some people will be<br />
content with learning to identify a few common species, others will want to<br />
know more and may even want to make a special study of some groups or<br />
genera.<br />
Correct identification, then, becomes a matter of observing carefully the<br />
characters possessed by the fungus, comparing them with descriptions and<br />
illustrations or with other specimens, and assessing the value of differences and<br />
similarities observed. There is no rigid concept or set of rules by which one can<br />
say whether or not an observed difference represents a real difference between<br />
species or simply variation among individuals of the same species. Size of the<br />
pileus and l<strong>eng</strong>th of the stipe, for example, are characters that are usually<br />
fairly constant within limits for any particular species, but some individuals<br />
may be found in which these or other characters may far exceed the ordinary<br />
limits. Colors may fade, heavy rains may wash scales off the pileus, a delicate<br />
annulus may disappear very early, and so on. On the other hand, spore color<br />
is a very constant character as are many of the microscopic characters.<br />
No single book contains descriptions of all the known species of mush-<br />
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