Russula (Fragiles) _emetica_ Fries. Cap fleshy, at first convex, then expanded or depressed, smooth, polished, red, margin sulcate; gills free, equal and broad, white; stem solid but somewhat spongy in the center, smooth, short, stoutish, white or stained reddish; flesh white, sometimes slightly tinted red, under the thin red cuticle. The cap of this mushroom varies from a deep rich crimson to a pale pinkish red, being very subject to atmospheric changes. Specimens are often found with the cap washed almost white after heavy rains, or with but a slight red spot in the center. The gills and spores are pure white, and the flesh peppery to the taste. If tasted when raw the juice should not be swallowed. The variety _Clusii_ has a blood-red cap, pallid yellowish gills, adnexed, becoming adnate. Spores white. In woods. Acrid. The variety _fallax_ is fragile, with dingy reddish pileus and adnexed, distant, whitish gills. Besides the above mentioned, there are other acrid Russulas and Lactars which are regarded with suspicion, though not as yet satisfactorily tested. POISONOUS BOLETI. Several of the Boleti have the reputation of being poisonous or deleterious, among them Boletus _luridus_, Boletus _Satanas_, and Boletus _felleus._ Kobert's analysis of B. _luridus_ shows the presence of the poisonous alkaloid muscarin in this mushroom, while the bitterness of B. _felleus_ should make one chary of eating it in quantity, if at all. Schmiedeberg and Koppe describe experiments made with Boletus Satanas, in which the symptoms experienced closely resemble those of muscarin poisoning. A correspondent living in Georgia, who is quite familiar with the species, writes that he has frequently eaten the yellow form of the _muscaria_, when cooked, without serious inconvenience. Another correspondent writes that he has eaten the species Boletus luridus and Boletus Satanas, as well as several other mushrooms of poisonous repute, with perfect impunity. Without calling in question the testimony of persons who state that they have with impunity eaten mushrooms generally found to be poisonous, it must be said that even if, through local conditions of soil or climate, the poisonous constituents of such mushrooms sometimes exist in comparatively minute proportions, or are _neutralized_ by an unusual proportion of _mushroom atropin_ in the plant, or eliminated by some process used in its preparation for the table, or, finally, if constitutional idiosyncrasies should enable some persons safely to eat what is poisonous to others, the rule that such are to be avoided should never be disregarded by the ordinary collector, nor should it be departed from even by experts, except upon the clearest evidence that in the given case the departure is safe. It is certainly the part of discretion, when in doubt, to take no risks. RECENT INSTANCES OF MUSHROOM POISONING.