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HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE -GOS SIP. 



The equipment for a fungus foray differs with the 

 nature of the fungi to be collected. If the plants 

 sought for are wholly microscopic, a small vasculum, 

 knife, pocket-leus, and package of thin paper will 

 be found sufficient ; but if Agarics, Boleti, the 

 larger Polyporei, &c., are to be brought home, a 

 more complete set of things will be required, which 

 sliould include a very small garden-trowel or car- 

 penter's gouge (any saddler or bootmaker will make 

 a suitable leather case for the blades for a shilling 

 or two), a strong knife— such as gardeners use for 

 pruning trees, a few sheets of thin paper, a lens, 

 pocket-compass, and some string. If trufiQes are 

 desired, a rake is necessary, and the best plan is to 

 carry the iron-toothed end separately in a leather 

 case and made to screw on to the end of a walking- 

 stick ; when not in use, this end can be carried in 

 the pocket with the trowel, &c.- It is requisite that 

 the vasculum be large, with straps to carry it over 

 the shoulders ; and the collector should be provided 

 with a set of cardboard boxes, large and small, to 

 go inside the vasculum, and to contain the more 

 delicate or choice spoils of the day. Leather gloves 

 and a thin great-coat are good things for the chilly 

 days of early winter — this coat should be provided 

 with at least four large pockets ; and, if the weather 

 is inclement, strong boots and waterproof leggings 

 will be found serviceable. An old felt hat and large 

 cotton umbrella are also desirable, for it is only a 

 piece of folly to go into the wet dripping woods 

 with good clothes. As for the umbrella, it should 

 be one of the Mrs. ©amp pattern, of good size, and 

 with a (removable) ring at the end furthest from 

 the handle, so that it may be suspended from 

 branches of trees, &c., whilst the fungi are sorted 

 or examined below, or a frugal luncheon is dis- 

 cussed (perhaps during a passing storm of rain). 

 The string will be found useful for tying up the 

 larger Polyporei ; these are frequently of great 

 size, and often weigh many pounds. In collecting, 

 all Agarics should be kept separate as much as pos- 

 sible ; for this purpose thin ^paper, such as is used 

 by stationers and milliners, is indispensable ; every 

 specimen should be wrapped very lightly in a piece 

 of thin paper before boxing, as the elasticity of the 

 paper not Only prevents breaking and bruising, but 

 it also prevents the spores of one species being 

 scattered over another. In carrying fungi about, or 

 sending fresh specimens from one place to another, 

 nothing is so good as this thin paper interspersed 

 here and there with fronds of the common bracken. 

 Sawdust, hay, or wool, should never, on any ac- 

 count, be used: such things totally destroy the 

 plants ; but with careful packing with paper and 

 bracken-fronds, fungi may be transported for any 

 distance, by rail or otherwise, perfectly intact and 

 undamaged. In packing the vasculum, see that the 

 heavier plants are at the bottom and the lighter 

 ones at the top ; for if packed otherwise any fragile 



species will be certainly destroyed. I have known 

 a good collection of Agarics rendered worthless by 

 a loose puff-ball being placed with them, which has 

 rolled about with every movement of the collector's 

 body, and damaged big and little species alike, when 

 a piece of paper or a fern-frond or two, to prevent 

 rolling, 'would have kept all quite safe. 



It is hardly necessary to specify localities, because 

 fungi abound everywhere. If leaf fungi are sought 

 for, hedge-sides will produce an abundant crop ; if 

 the Agaricini and Polyporei, forests and woods must 

 be ransacked ; if the edible species are wanted, rich 

 open pastures (with few exceptions) must be tra- 

 versed : the various species of truffles must be 

 looked for principally in leafy glades— many like a 

 calcareous subsoil, but at times they may be met 

 with even in hedge-sides, town parks, or 'elsewhere. 



When the collection of the day is complete, no 

 species must be allowed to remain in the collecting- 

 cases all night ; for if the boxes are not carefully 

 opened and the contents laid out, it will probably 

 be found in the morning that some will have dis- 

 solved into an inky fluid ; others will have got into 

 the treacle state, whilst a third lot will be overrun 

 with mould, or the smaller ones perhaps entirely 

 eaten up by slugs or larvae. Eew things decompose 

 so rapidly as fungi, especially the fully-grown 

 Boleti : these, though apparently perfectly sound 

 one day, will sometimes be a horrible mass of fcetid 

 treacle the next. I have sometimes received large 

 parcels by rail or post when this horrible stinking 

 matter has been dripping out, perhaps all over the 

 carter's hands or down the postman's trousers ; for 

 ladies always tcill send Boleti in bonnet-boxes, tied 

 with thin twine. Should any extra charge be de- 

 manded, on the ground of the insufficiently prepaid 

 postage, or the parcels be unpaid, I invariably refuse 

 to take them in, to the disgust of the parties bring- 

 ing them. I shall not soon forget an ill-tempered 

 postman who brought me two of these dripping 

 treasures at the same time last autumn, with a 

 demand for extra postage, and his look of silent 

 disrelish as he walked off with one twine-suspended 

 bonnet-box in each hand, the fragrant Boleti-treacle 

 meanwhile manifesting itself upon the pavement. 

 Even when quite fresh, the odour of some species is 

 disgusting in the extreme ; for instance, a single 

 specimen of Phallus impudiciis in the collecting-box 

 will infect a whole railway-carriage with the most 

 horrible and sickening stench ; whilst the curious 

 truffle Melanogaster amhiguus is perhaps worse still 

 for its abominable odour is perfectly insufferable. 



To dry and preserve a collection of fresh fungi is 

 at times a very difficult task; for instance, some 

 species are so entirely covered with a tenacious 

 gluten that if they were at once put between 

 drying-papers, it is certain they would never come 

 out again with the least chance of being recognized 

 by even the most acute fungologist ; others are so 



