But all agree in these things. They have _gills_, which are _white_ or _yellow_, _a ring on the stalk_, _a cup at the base_, _white spores_, and are _deadly poison_. In Case of Poisoning If by ill chance any one has eaten a poisonous Amanita, the effects do not begin to show till sixteen or eighteen hours afterward--that is, long after the poison has passed through the stomach and began its deadly work on the nerve centres. _Symptoms_. Vomiting and purging, "the discharge from the bowels being watery with small flakes suspended, and sometimes containing blood," cramps in the extremities. The pulse is very slow and strong at first, but later weak and rapid, sometimes sweat and saliva pour out. Dizziness, faintness, and blindness, the skin clammy, cold, and bluish or livid; temperature low with dreadful tetanic convulsions, and finally stupor. (McIlvaine and Macadam, p. 627.) _Remedy_: "Take an emetic at once, and send for a physician with instructions to bring hypodermic syringe and atropine sulphate. The dose is 1/180 of a grain, and doses should be continued heroically until 1/20 of a grain is administered, or until, in the physician's opinion, a proper quantity has been injected. Where the victim is critically ill the 1/20 of a grain may be administered." (McIlvaine and Macadam XVII.) Wholesome Toadstools It is a remarkable fact that all the queer freaks, like clubs and corals, the cranks and tomfools, in droll shapes and satanic colors, the funny poisonous looking Morels, Inkcaps, and Boleti are good wholesome food, but the deadly Amanitas are like ordinary Mushrooms, except that they have grown a little thin, delicate, and anaemic. [Illustration: Puffballs Brain Puffball Cup Puffball 2 stages Giant Puffball Oyster Mushrooms Moose horn clavaria Red tipped clavaria Golden coral mushroom Gyromitra esculenta Delicious Morel Beefsteak mushrooms Inky coprinus] All the Puffballs are good before they begin to puff, that is as long as their flesh is white and firm. All the _colored_ coral toadstools are good, but the _White Clavaria_ is said to be rather sickening. All of the Morels are safe and delicious. So also is Inky Coprinus, usually found on manure piles. The Beefsteak Mushroom grows on stumps--chiefly chestnut. It looks like raw meat and bleeds when cut. It is quite good eating. So far as known no black-spored toadstool is unwholesome. The common Mushroom is distinguished by its general shape, its pink or brown gills, its white flesh, brown spores, and solid stem. SNAKES GOOD AND BAD Snakes are to the animal world what toadstools are to the vegetable world--wonderful things, beautiful things, but fearsome things, because some of them are deadly poison. Taking Mr. Raymond L. Ditmars[4] as our authority, we learn that out of one hundred and eleven species of snakes found in the United States, seventeen are poisonous. They are found in every State, but are most abundant in the Southwest.