A PLAIN AND EASY ACCOUNT

OF

BRITISH FUNGI

WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE ESCULENT AND
ECONOMIC SPECIES

BRITISH FUNGI.

TO some - and we would hope that the number is few - the very name of Fungus is unknown. To others this name is associated only with the pileated species, or at most with the addition of puff-balls, or such as possess a truly fungoid odour. There doubtless may be found a privileged few, amongst the unscientific denizens of our islands, who acknowledge a broader view, and include a far less limited series of these extraordinary productions of the vegetable kingdom within the terms of our title.

It would be vain to attempt a general and compact definition of a fungus, or to describe in a few words what is included in the large group to which the name of Fungi is given, so as to be popularly intelligible. The contents of the present volume must be left to perform this office for us, or so much of it as remains untold after we have pointed out some of the most characteristic of the homes of the race. It is indeed a singular and despised family to the history of which we are about to dedicate this volume. Many of those who would merit the title of "good botanists" know little or nothing about them. That part of our scientific literature which is devoted to them is remarkably scanty; and the young student, or the operative botanist, whose means are limited, inquires in vain for assistance in gaining even a slight knowledge of a very interesting section of our Flora. For such we can scarce hope to accomplish much; but even this little may not prove unwelcome. Whilst manuals of flowering plants, with or without illustrations, are abundant, no corresponding guides to cryptograms can be found equally complete, cheap, or useful.

The Spitalfields weaver, who gets away into the country, whenever a half-holiday falls to his lot, for the purpose of adding to his humble herbarium, or becoming better acquainted with the Flora of his native land, must look upon the lichen or fungus as objects reserved for the study of those who can better afford the necessary literary assistance. Although this may still be asserted, with equal justice, when our work is accomplished; yet if we succeed in exciting an interest amongst only a few readers, this may hasten the time when the desideratum shall be supplied.

To say that fungi may be found everywhere, would not perhaps be always literally true; but to say where they are not to be found, under any circumstances, would be puzzling. Not only are shady woods, mossy dells, secluded lanes, and green pastures, the habitats of fungi, but we meet with them in almost every situation where vegetable life is possible, and traces of them where it is not. Wherever decaying vegetable matter exists, we may expect to find a new race flourishing among the débris, as in the decay of the garden of "the sensitive plant" described by Shelley:-

And plants at whose name the verse feels loath,
Fill'd the place with a monstrous undergrowth,
Prickly and pulpous, and blistering, and blue,
Livid, and starr'd with a lurid dew,

And agarics, and fungi, with mildew and mould,
Started like mist from the wet ground cold;
Pale, fleshy, as if the decaying dead
With a spirit of growth had been animated.

Their mass rotted, off them flake by flake,
Till the thick stalk stuck like a murderer's stake,
Where rags of loose flesh yet tremble on high,
Infecting the winds that wander by.

Such a spot is an almost certain home for fungi. Every rotten stump or twig, every decaying leaf or fruit, has its peculiar species, - some large enough to attract immediate attention, others so small as to be invisible to the unaided eye. But we need not travel from home to meet with examples: the unwelcome dry-rot may I have committed its ravages beneath our kitchen floor; or on the walls of our cellars, and our casks, or bottles of wine, may be infested with members of this ubiquitous race. Can we find no morsel of bread or cheese upon which mould is flourishing? no towel or other article household linen presenting traces of mildew? Are we perfectly certain that all our preserves are unvisited, or, to come nearer to some of us, all our books untouched ?

But, in places which many would consider more unlikely still, we may look for and expect to find fungi [Ref. 1]: on whitewashed walls, plaster ceilings, dirty glass, old flannel, and old boots and shoes, or leather of any description; on carpets, mats, and boards, and even the plants in our herbaria must be watched against their ravages. Animals bear them about on their horns and hoofs, and the housefly often carries in its body the vegetating fungus which ultimately deprives it of life. The yeast that is employed for fermenting our bread and our beer is a fungus, as well as the mildew and smut that infest our growing corn.

From cesspools and traps, the minute dust-like spores of hidden fungi rise into our dwellings, unseen they float in the air, entering everywhere, depositing themselves everywhere, and vegetating wherever the conditions are favourable to their development.

It was strongly affirmed at one time that our cholera visitations were due to these invisible agents, and a large volume has been written on these vegetable parasites on men and animals. "When our beer becomes mothery, the mother of that mischief is a fungus; if pickles acquire a bad taste, if ketchup turns ropy and putrefies, fungi have a finger in it all. Their reign stops not here - they even prey on each other. The close cavities of nuts occasionally afford concealment to some species; others, like leeches, stick to the bulbs of plants, and suck them dry; and some pick timber to pieces as men pick oakum." Hop-mildew, vine-disease, turnip-mildew, bunt, smut, ergot, potato-murrain, pea and wheat mildew, may all be traced to them as the fertile source of mischief.

That fungi may be developed under, apparently, the most unfavourable circumstances, may be gathered from an instance recorded by Schweinitz, of a blacksmith at Salem, who, having thrown on one side a piece of iron which he had just taken from the fire, was called off to some other business, and on his return in the morning was astonished to see on this very piece, lying over the water on his smith's trough, a mass of fungi two feet in length. It had crept from the iron to some adjacent wood, and not from the wood to the iron. This immense mass had grown during the space of twelve hours. The Rev. M. J. Berkeley also found a species of fungus vegetating on a lead cistern at Kew; and Sowerby, the author of an illustrated work on British Fungi, published more than half a century since, found a species growing on some cinders on the outside of the dome of St. Paul's.

Nor are these plants less worthy of notice on account of the rapidity of their growth. The great Puff Ball springs up in a marvellous manner to the size of a pumpkin during the night; and the late Dr. Lindley computed that the cells of which its structure is composed, multiply at the extraordinary rate of sixty millions in a minute. Dr. Greville mentions an instance of one of the largest of our British fungi (Polyporus squamosus) attaining a circumference of seven feet five inches, and weighing thirty-four pounds, after having been cut four days. It was only four weeks in attaining to these dimensions, thus acquiring an increase of growth equal to nineteen ounces per day. During the past summer we noticed an individual of this same species, which reached a diameter of eleven inches within the short space of a week. Blue-mould is also rapid in its growth, although the plant individually is small, and a meadow or pasture which in the evening exhibited no prominent signs of mushrooms, may in the morning yield a good basket-full. The popular notion, current in some agricultural districts, that fungi melt away when the sun shines upon them, sends the mushroom-gatherer to seek them

"When the grass is wet with dew,
In the morning early."

Dr. Carpenter relates an instance of the expansive power resulting from the rapid growth of the soft cellular tissue of fungi which seems marvellous. Some years ago the town of Basingstoke was paved; and not many months afterwards the pavement was observed to exhibit an unevenness which could not easily be accounted for. In a short time after, the mystery was explained, for some of the heaviest stones were completely lifted out of their beds by the growth of large toadstools beneath them. One of these stones measured twenty-two inches by twenty-one, and weighed eighty-three pounds, and the resistance afforded by the mortar which held it in its place would probably be even a greater obstacle than the weight. It became necessary to repave the whole town in consequence of this remarkable disturbance. a similar incident came under our own notice, of a large kitchen hearthstone which was forced up from its bed by an under-growing fungus, and had to be relaid two or three times, until at last it reposed in peace, the old bed having been removed to the depth of six inches, and a new foundation laid. a circumstance recorded by Sir Joseph Banks is still more extraordinary, of a cask of wine which, having been confined for three years in a cellar, was, at the termination of that period, found to have leaked from the cask, and vegetated in the form of immense fungi, which had filled the cellar and borne upwards the empty wine-cask to the roof.

It is a curious fact in connection with the growth of these singular plants, that, while Phanaerogams under ordinary circumstances absorb carbonic acid from the atmosphere, and respire oxygen, in this instance the order is reversed, and carbonic acid gas is given off. It is believed that the absence of green colouring matter, with the exception in some few instances of a kind of mineral green, is due, in part, to this reversal of transpired gases. One thing is certain, that in flowering plants light is absolutely essential not only to the growth and healthy condition of the plant, but also to the production of the green chlorophyl, or colouring matter. Fungi, on the contrary, would appear to flourish best in the absence of light, in dark cellars, under flagstones, in hollow trees, and in like places, where no other form of plant could exist; while some genera are entirely subterranean.

The luminosity of fungi is a phenomenon which we do not often see exhibited in these temperate regions; but in countries nearer the tropics it is not at all an uncommon occurrence for fungi to give out a kind of phosphorescent light with sufficient intensity to enable the traveller to read his letters or write up his journal.

"And unctuous meteors from spray to spray
Crept and flitted in broad noonday
Unseen, every branch on which they alit
By a venomous blight was burned and bit."

In our schoolboy days we remember to have often carried home in our pockets a piece of touchwood, to be taken to bed with us on account of the little light it afforded. What we, in common with our elders and betters, termed touchwood, was merely the light, white, decaying wood of an old stump, entirely permeated with the minute mycelium of a fungus, and which exhibited phosphorescence in the dark. The fact was well enough known to us, but the cause was a mystery; the remotest idea of its being due to the presence of a fungoid growth never entered our boyish heads.

A kind of Polyporus (P. sulfureus), often found forming a dense mass on the stumps of trees, exhibits phosphorescence in the early stages of its decay.

The forms which these singular plants assume are extremely diversified: in some instances we have a distinct stem supporting a cap, and looking somewhat like a parasol; in others the stem is entirely absent, and the cap is attached either by its margin, and is said to be dimidiate, or by its back, or that which is more commonly its upper surface, when it is called resupinate. Sometimes the form and colour so nearly resemble that of a tongue, that, as Dr. Badham says, "in the days of enchanted trees you would not have cut it off to pickle or eat on any account, lest the knight to whom it belonged should afterwards come to claim it of you." In some species the form is that of a cup; in others of a goblet, a saucer, an ear, a birds-nest, a horn, a bunch of coral, a ball, a button, a rosette, a lump of jelly, or a piece of velvet. Indeed, so protean are they in shape, that description fails in giving an adequate idea of their variety.

In colour they are almost as variable as in shape: in one or two instances decidedly green; but this colour mast be considered as rare amongst them. We have all shades of red, from light pink to deepest crimson; all tints of yellow, from sulphureous to orange; all kinds of browns, from palest ochre to deepest amber; and every gradation between pale grey and sooty black. Blue and violet tints do not abound; but even these, as well as a beautiful amethyst, occasionally occur. White or creamy tints are very common. There is a livid and suspicious shade to many of the species, not peculiarly attractive to the disinterested observer.

Odours are manifestly agreeable, or disagreeable, to a considerable extent, according to the taste of the inhaler; but it must be confessed that some of the fungi exhale an odour so intolerably foetid, that no set of olfactory nerves could be found to endure it longer than was absolutely necessary. a lady having found a specimen of the truly elegant, but rare, Clathrus, set about making a sketch of it; but, notwithstanding her urgent desire to accomplish the task, she was compelled to have the fungus removed from the house before her sketch was finished.

A gentleman of our acquaintance, during a stroll through Darenth Wood, met with a specimen of the common stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus), which, having deposited in his sandwich-box and consigned to his pocket, he designed to take home and examine. For some time he had become conscious of an unpleasant odour; but it was not until he had entered the railway carriage, to return to town, that he discovered the true source. Everybody in the compartment complained, and wondered what could be the cause, and quitted it as soon as an opportunity offered. Nothing but a resolute determination to make a drawing and section of the fungus could have prevented our friend throwing away stinkhorn and sandwich-box long ere his arrival in town; but, in this instance, botanical enthusiasm overcame all physical difficulties.

The foetid or unpleasant odour is not, however, universal in fungi. There are some which have the scent of tarragon, of new-mown hay, of violets, of anise, of walnuts, of new meal, &c.; while there are others which, we must confess, have the odour of onions, of garlic, of tainted meat, of fish, and equally unpleasant substances; and others, again, which are devoid of any perceptible odour. Some persons are very fond of tasting, and here they may gratify that propensity; for in fungi they will meet with a variety of flavours, some of which will be calculated to please, and others to disgust. In the raw state, probably, the acrid or unpleasant prevails in the majority of cases, for some species which are pleasant when cooked, have a very acrid taste when eaten raw. The number of poisonous species has, perhaps, been exaggerated; but of these there are many, and the dangerous properties of a few are extremely virulent. We have always imagined it prudent to taste unknown species with caution, since we have learnt that some mycologists, having, perhaps, more enthusiasm than caution) have, from merely tasting very virulent species, suffered for some time afterwards considerable pain and inconvenience. More especial reference will be made hereafter to the species recommended as esculent, and which may be found, in greater or less number, in our own islands.

As articles of food, fungi are certainly deserving of more attention than they have hitherto received from the majority of our countrymen. People widely separated by mountains, oceans, or vast tracts of desert, have been found employing certain species as delicacies. Not only in China, as evidenced by the examples of dried edible fungi sent to the International Exhibition of 1862, but also in the Himalayas and in the Rocky Mountains, as well as in Terra del Fuego, New Zealand, and Australia, to say nothing of European countries, certain species afford wholesome and nutritious food. Of their chemical composition we are very deficient in information. Few authentically-determined species have yet come under the cognizance of the chemist, and there is but little doubt that not only does the composition vary greatly in different species, as evidenced by their wholesome or unwholesome properties, but also in the same species under different conditions of climate and habitat, as well as during the different stages of its existence; a few hours being sufficient in some cases to convert a wholesome food into a very injurious, and, perhaps, dangerous substance.

GILL-BEARING FUNGI.

WITH a view to a more complete knowledge of the structure and arrangement of Fungi, it will be advisable to commence with an examination of one of the best known, as a type of the higher divisions of this interesting group of plants. Every one knows what a mushroom is, at least so far as regards its external appearance. If we carefully remove the soil from the base of the stem which bears the cap-like receptacle of mushrooms, we shall lay bare a number of pale entangled threads, which constitute the mycelium, or spawn. These thread-like processes consist of a number of separate individuals, which unitedly produce the stem already alluded to.

The mycelium of fungi is not always composed of filaments, but this kind will, for the present, serve the purpose of illustration. At certain points in this entangled mass of threads, a little rounded protuberance at first appears, which, as it enlarges, ruptures, and the young mushroom may be seen within it, with its cap or pileus supported upon its stem. The membrane which has up to this point inclosed the young mushroom is termed the volva, or wrapper, portions or traces of which often remain permanently at the base of the stem.

The young pileus or cap, for some time after it has emerged from the wrapper, retains its spherical or hemispherical form. As it expands, the under surface, which is seen to consist of a membrane, or in some cases only of a mass of entangled threads, ruptures, leaving a portion attached to the stem, or stipe, in the form of an irregular collar, ring, or annulus. This collar is in some species of Agaric permanent, in others it is moveable, whilst in many it is entirely absent. The breaking away of the membrane from the under surface of the pileus, as already described, exposes a series of plates or gill-like processes, called also lamellae, which radiate from the stem. These gills are covered with the fructifying surface, termed the hymenium, which bears the spores, or reproductive bodies.

The accompanying woodcut will make clearer the position and relation of the parts we have described. At the base of this section of an Agaric the mycelium is represented at m, proceeding from this the stipe or stem (s), surrounded by the remains of the volva or wrapper (v). The stem is surmounted by a pileus or cap (p), bearing lamellae or gills on the under surface (g), which have been exposed by the disappearance of the indusium or veil, leaving traces in the form of an annulus or ring (a) around the stem.

If we collect a specimen of mushroom, or any Agaric, and having separated the stem from the pileus, invert the latter, with the gills downwards, upon a piece of glass or a sheet of writing-paper, in the course of an hour or two a number of fine dust-like bodies will be seen to have fallen from the under surface of the pileus upon the glass or paper. These are the reproductive bodies, known as spores, which are borne upon the surface of the lamellae. Their colour will in many instances be white, but in some of a purple tint, or various shades of brown. The further and more minute examination of these bodies requires the aid of a microscope.

It has been said that the spores of Agarics are borne upon what are termed the gills, and that the spore-bearing surface is called the hymenium. In the genus now under description this hymenium is folded or plaited together in the form of a series of plates radiating from the stem; the two sides of these folds adhere more or less by their backs, and in some species may be easily opened out. Upon the surface of the hymenium will be found a number of swollen threads or cells, called sporophores, or basidia (b), each surmounted by four smaller branches, termed spicules, or stigmata (a), each of which is terminated by a spore. An immense number of these spores are borne on the hymenium of a single fungus, as will be evident by the deposit obtained in the .manner already indicated. The spores vary not only in size, but also in colour and form. Fries says of them :- "They are so infinite - for in a single individual I have reckoned above 10,000,000 - so subtile, scarcely visible to the eye, and resembling thin smoke; so light, and are dispersed in so many ways, that it is difficult to conceive a place from which they can be excluded."

The whole of the description now concluded will only apply to the Agaricini, or Gill-bearing Fungi.; Of these there are believed to exist at least three thousand species, and one-tenth of them are probably esculent, while perhaps one sixth of them are not positively unwholesome.

To determine the species to which any individual Agaric may belong, it is necessary that the following particulars should be noted - i.e., whether found growing singly or in groups, and whether, if gregarious, it formed a portion of a ring; also, if found on the ground or upon decaying wood, and whether rooting or not. It should carefully be noted if the stem is stout or slender, bulbous or fusiform, scaly, downy, or smooth; whether central in its insertion, eccentric, lateral, or almost obsolete; what is the colour of the pileus, gills, and stem, the form of the pileus in the young as well as the mature plant; and what is the nature of the surface of the pileus, whether downy or smooth, dull or shining, viscid or dry. Then, by cutting the pileus and stem down the centre, the texture of both, their colour, and also whether the stem is fibrous, stuffed (i.e., filled with a spongy or cottony mass) or fistulose (i.e., hollow) (a b). The form and position of the gills must also be noted. If their interior extremities are distant from the stem, they are remote (c); reaching the stem, but not attached thereto, free (d), but if attached, they are then termed adnate (e). If the gills run down the stem, they are said to be decurrent (f). Their opposite or outer extremity may be forked, or their interior toothed or emarginate (a); and the whole surface of the gills may be narrow or broad, and they may be closely packed side by side, or distant. And, finally, the colour of the spores and (if practicable) their form, as shown by the microscope, should be determined.

This catalogue of desiderata will have intimated the points of variation which will be found in different species of Agaricus, and which will, some of them, be illustrated by the examples to which we shall hereafter more particularly refer.

The entire mass of Fungi subdivide themselves naturally into two great divisions. In one of these, and by far the largest, the spores, or reproductive bodies, are naked or exposed, generally clustered in groups of four, or some multiple of that number. It will be borne in mind that in Endogenous plants, three is the mystical, typical, or representative number, whilst in the alliance of plants now under consideration that typical number is four. The first great division of fungi, in which the spores are naked, is termed SPORIFERA, or spore-bearing. In the second, or smaller division, the spores are contained in bags, or sacs, called asci, and the division bears the name of SPORIDIIFERA.

The Sporiferous division of fungi, again, contains four families, which are arranged according to the following distinctive features:- In one family, the hymenium, whether distributed over gills, tubes, pores, or fissures, is the most prominent object. Hence these are called Hymenomycetes, a word compounded of hymenium and mycetes, the latter being the Greek term for fungi; so that these might be called Hymenium-fungi; of which the common mushroom may be accepted as an example.

In the second family the hymenium is enclosed in a peridium, or case, which seldom ruptures before the spores are ripe. To this family the name of Gasteromycetes is given; from gaster a belly, because the hymenium, with all the reproductive bodies, are enclosed in a kind of uterus or womb, from whence they are expelled when mature. Of this family, the puff-balls may be taken as an example.

In the third family, which contains very minute individuals, the spores are the most conspicuous bodies; the name employed is Coniomycetes, derived from the Greek konis, signifying dust, on account of their dust-like nature; of which mildew and smut may be taken as types.

In the fourth family the spores are small and inconspicuous compared to the threads upon which they are borne, and which latter are the distinctive features of the family. Hence it is termed Hyphomycetes, from the Greek word hypha, a thread; wherefore they might be called thread-like fungi. Of this family, blue-mould may be taken as an example.

Having now briefly characterized the four families of Sporiferous fungi, we will return to the first of these, and examine it more minutely.

The Hymenomycetous fungi are those in which the hymenium is the most prominent feature. In some of these the hymenium is inferior, and in some it is superior. We will commence with those in which it is inferior. This family contains six orders, of equal importance, and equally natural to similar divisions of flowering plants. It will be remembered henceforth, that we make no allusion to groups, of whatever size or importance, not represented in the British Flora.

The first and most prominent order is termed Agaricini, and contains the Gill-bearing fungi, or those in which the hymenium, or spore-bearing surface, is inferior, and spread over lamellae or gills, which radiate from a common centre, and each of which lamellae may be separated into two plates.

This order is well represented in Great Britain, for we have not less than one thousand distinct species already described. The eighteen British genera will be found arranged in the systematic table appended to this volume.

The first genus of this order is often amalgamated with the second, on the authority of Fries; but Dr. Greville long ago proposed its separation. In this work we shall retain the old name of Amanita for the thirteen species found in Britain, deeming the character of the volva to be of sufficient importance to justify their removal from the large genus with which they are often associated.

In Amanita the volva is distinct, the gills are membranaceous, with acute edges, and the spores are white. The volva, on breaking up, remains attached to the pileus in fragments resembling warts. Of the thirteen species found in this country, many are poisonous, and one is especially deserving of notice from its extraordinary application abroad. This species, the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria), has a bright scarlet or reddish umber pileus, studded with warts of a dirty white or yellowish tint (Plate 1). The stem is bulbous, containing cottony threads. It is found most commonly in birch woods, and not very plentifully in Britain. a decoction of this fungus has been employed as a fly-poison; whence its vulgar name.

M. Roques, in his work on Esculent Fungi, says distinctly that this plant has not its poisonous properties modified by any climate. The Czar Alexis lost his life by eating of it, and yet it has been affirmed that in Kamtschatka "it is used as a frequent article of food." And we have been informed that it is cooked and eaten in Russia, albeit it is also on record that several French soldiers ate of it within the confines of the Russian dominions, and became very ill. In Siberia it supplies the inhabitants with the means of intoxication similar to that produced by the "haschisch" and "majoon" of the East. The fungi are collected during the summer months, and hung up to dry in the open air, or they are left to dry in the ground, and are collected afterwards. When the latter course is pursued, they are said to possess more powerful narcotic properties than when dried artificially. The juice of the whortleberry in which this substance has been steeped, acquires thereby the intoxicating properties of strong wine.

The method of using this singular production is to roll it up in the form of a bolus, and swallow it whole. a day's intoxication may be procured at the expense of one or two of these fungi, and this intoxication is affirmed to be not only cheap, but remarkably pleasant. The result follows within an hour or two of participation.

Some of the effects produced by this fungus resemble those resulting from intoxicating liquors; others are similar to the accompaniments of an indulgence in "haschisch." At first it generally produces cheerfulness, afterwards giddiness and drunkenness, ending occasionally in the entire loss of consciousness. The natural inclinations of the individual become stimulated. The dancer executes a pas d'extravagance, the musician indulges in a song, the chatterer divulges all his secrets, the orator delivers himself of a philippic, and the mimic indulges in caricature. Erroneous impressions of size and distance are common occurrences: a straw lying in the road becomes a formidable object, to overcome which a leap is taken sufficient to clear a barrel of ale, or the prostrate trunk of a British oak. But this is not the only extraordinary circumstance connected therewith. The property is imparted to the fluid excretion of rendering it intoxicating, which property it retains for a considerable time. a man, having been intoxicated on one day, and slept himself sober by the next, will, by drinking this liquor to the extent of about a cupful, become as much intoxicated as he was before. Confirmed drunkards in Siberia preserve this as a precious liquor in case a scarcity of fungi should occur. This intoxicating property may be communicated to every person who partakes of the disgusting draught, and thus with the third, fourth, and even fifth distillation. By this means, with a few fungi to commence with, a party may shut themselves in their room and indulge in a week's debauch [Ref. 2]:

A species of Amanita (A. strobiliformis. Fr.), rarely found on the borders of woods, and which attains a large size, is said to be esculent, but is too rare to become of any importance as an article of food. The pileus is studded with persistent warts, as in the Fly Amanita; but instead of the bright red colour of that species, in this instance the pileus is of a purplish grey.

The Red Amanita (A. rubescens, Pers.) is also generally described as an esculent species. The whole plant becomes red when bruised or rubbed, a characteristic by which it may be readily distinguished. It is very common in woods, and has the pileus covered with scattered mealy warts. Dr. Badham and M. Roques include this amongst esculent species; and I am assured by a friend in the country, who experiments upon all the reputed esculent species which fall in his way, that "this kind makes excellent ketchup." Berkeley, notwithstanding, considers it as doubtful. Whilst Mr. Currey states, that from long experience he can vouch for its being not only wholesome, but, as Dr. Badham says, "a very delicate fungus."

There is yet one other species of Amanita (A. vaginata) which is very common in woods and under trees. It is extremely variable in size and in colour. The pileus is thin, at first bell-shaped, and ultimately expands to nearly a plane surface. The stem is hollow, and the volva loose. The free gills are white in the earlier stages of growth. This species is entirely destitute of any ring. Dr. Greville found a white variety of this species, which he calls A. nivalis, growing on the bleak summits of the loftiest Grampians, where, he says, "it enlivens the few turfy spots which occur in those desert regions by its symmetry and extreme whiteness. In its young state it is completely enveloped in the smooth volva or wrapper, and bears a near resemblance to a pigeon's egg, scarcely rising above the dark moss. After bursting from its confinement, it rapidly advances to maturity, uninjured by the coldest winds, or the snow with which it is sometimes covered, even in the middle of August." This species has not only enjoyed the reputation of being esculent, but also of being poisonous. From the very questionable company in which the three species of Amanita now named are found, and from the conflicting testimony as to their wholesome properties, we conclude that it would be much safer to regard all the species which are grouped under that name as suspicious, and not to collect and employ any species of Amanita as an article of food.

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