1. Sprinkle a little salt on the spongy part or gills of the sample to be tried. If they turn yellow they are poisonous, - if black, they are whole-some. Allow the salt to act before you decide on the question. 2. False mushrooms have a warty cap, or else fragments of membrane, adhering to the upper surface, are heavy, and emerge from a vulva or bag; they grow in tufts or clusters in woods, on the stumps of trees, etc, whereas the true mushrooms grow in pastures. 3. False mushrooms have an astringent, styptic, and disagreeable taste. 4. When cut they turn blue. 5. They are moist on the surface, and generally - 6. Of a rose or orange, color. 7. The gills of the true mushroom are of a pinky red, changing to a liver colour. 8. The flesh is white. 9. The stem is white, solid, and cylindrical.