=Death Cup or Deadly Agaric= (_Amanita Phalloides_).--This species is more fatal in its effects than the preceding. Its salient feature is a bulbous base surmounted and surrounded by a collar or cup out of which the stem grows. This is often buried beneath the ground, however, so that it may escape notice. The gills and stem are white like the preceding, but the cap is usually not dotted but glossy, white, greenish, or yellow. There is also a broad, noticeable ring about the stem, as in the _fly amanita_. This mushroom frequents moist, shady spots, also along the borders of fields. It occurs singly, and rarely in fields or pastures. [Illustration: FIG. 41. THE DEADLY AGARIC. (_Amanita Phalloides._) This variety is very poisonous.] FOOTNOTES: [9] The shaggy mane has white gills, but its other features are characteristic. Part III THE HOUSE AND GROUNDS BY GEORGE M. PRICE _Acknowledgment_ We beg to tender grateful acknowledgment to author and publisher for the use of Dr. George M. Price's valuable articles on sanitation. The following extracts are taken from Dr. Price's "Handbook on Sanitation," published by John Wiley & Son, and are covered by copyright. CHAPTER I =Soil and Sites= =Definition.=--By the term "soil" we mean the superficial layer of the earth, a result of the geological disintegration of the primitive rock by the action of the elements upon it and of the decay of vegetable and animal life. =Composition.=--Soil consists of solids, water, and air. =Solids.=--The solid constituents of the soil are inorganic and organic in character. The inorganic constituents are the various minerals and elements found alone, or in combination, in the earth, such as silica, aluminum, calcium, iron, carbon, sodium, chlorine, potassium, etc. The characteristics of the soil depend upon its constituents, and upon the predominance of one or the other of its composing elements. The nature of the soil also depends upon its physical properties. When the disintegrated rock consists of quite large particles, the soil is called a _gravel soil_. A _sandy soil_ is one in which the particles are very small. _Sandstone_ is consolidated sand. _Clay_ is soil consisting principally of aluminum silicate; in _chalk_, soft calcium carbonate predominates. The organic constituents of the soil are the result of vegetable and animal growth and decomposition in the soil. =Ground Water.=--Ground water is that continuous body or sheet of water formed by the complete filling and saturation of the soil to a certain level by rain water; it is that stratum of subterranean lakes and rivers, filled up with alluvium, which we reach at a higher or lower level when we dig wells.