ilAKDWlCKE'S, SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



1U7 



the spores of certain species, wliilst they will not 

 touch the spores of others : therefore, if they are to 

 be kept perfectly intact, gummed paper must be 

 used, or they may be kept between little slips of 



Fig. 125. Cabinet for Fungi. 



mica. As to the labelling of the herbarium sheets, 

 I shall not touch upon that, as the plan universally 

 followed is similar to the one used for flowering 

 plants. Some sub-genera of Agarieus, however (as 

 Tricholoma), are so numerous in species that it will 

 be found requisite to have several wrappers for one 

 sub-genus. 



Now as to the necessary notes to be made on the 

 sheets : the points in discriminafiug fungi differ con- 

 siderably from those used in naming flowering plants. 

 It°is presumed the spores have been preserved by the 

 collector. Now, if he has time, the next best thing 

 is to measure and note them at once, in decimals of 

 an inch and millimetre ; a second and essentia! thing 

 is a note as to the taste of the fungus, whether it 

 is mild, acrid, bitter, &c. This point will be found 

 very useful, as some species are tasteless, insipid, 

 or extremely acrid, bitter, or poisonous : it is only 

 necessary to taste a small piece ; but as so little is 

 really known of the qualities of fungi, unless this 

 is done no advance will be made. I invariably 

 taste every fungus new to me, and have notes to 

 this effect of all the species which have passed 

 through my hands : in some species the effect is 

 very peculiar, sometimes (as in Agarieus vielleiis) it 

 causes a cold sensation at the back of the ears, and 

 swelling of the throat ; at others (as in Marasmius 

 caulic'malis), the taste proves to be intensely bitter ; 

 some are so fiery (as in Lactarhis turpis, hiennius, 

 and acris), that the smallest piece placed upon the 

 tongue resembles the contact of a red-hot poker. 

 Often, when I have been out botanizing with young 



men and amateurs, when a dubious Rnssula or Lac- 

 tarius has been shown me!to name, I have req\iested 

 the inquirer to tastelit, as, if mild or pungent, the 

 taste might at times decide the species ; I have gene- 

 rally found, however, that though certain persons 

 are' anxious enough to acquire names, they will not 

 burn their tongues to secure them. No fungi that 

 I am acquainted with are really pleasant raw, unless 

 it .is llydimm gelati/iosum, though many arc very 

 good when cooked. A very important thing to note 

 is the odour in the larger fungi; many are very 

 pleasant, like meal ; a few are sweet ; several resem- 

 ble cucumber (as Agarieus eucumis), one mice (as 

 A. incajius) ; another stinking fish ; whilst Maras. 

 miusfcetidus and impudieus are like putrid carrion ; 

 others are like burnt flannel, garlic, rotten beans, 

 and almost every imaginable disagreeable thing. 

 The habitat is of great importance : if the plant 

 grows upon trees, the tree should be named ; or if 

 parasitic upon any other material, the matrix 

 should be named with the place. The viscidity^ 

 dryness, or bibulosity must be given, and in the 

 Agarieini, any notes that may suggest themselves 

 as to the presence or absence of a veil, volva, or 

 trama, and whether the gills lave a habit of sepa- 

 rating from the .stem, as at J (fig. 122), niust be 

 carefully noted. 



The study of the larger fungi has been to me one 

 of the greatest pleasures of my life : when all things 

 else have failed, this has never failed ; it has taken 

 me into the pleasantest of places, and amongst the 

 best of people. Had it not been for fungi, I should 

 Lave" been dead years ago; often tired, jaded, 

 and harassed with business matters, a stroll in the 

 rich autumn woods has given me a renewed lease 

 of life. In these favourite haunts I never tire 

 or flag ; rain, fog, and mud never detract from 

 the pleasures of the woods to me— I am only de- 

 pressed in the hot, dry weather of midsummer. In 

 the autumn I constantly visit the forests, with all 

 my collecting paraphernalia ; I sometimes take a 

 saw to cut off the big, woody, fungous excrescences 

 of trees. I was once fortuuate enough to find a 

 ladder in a wood, which proved invaluable for as- 

 cending the beeches in search of Agarieus mucidus, 

 &c. I, however, find fungi everywhere : I only go 

 round the corner, and there they are. I often visit 

 a neighbouring builder's yard, and descend the saw- 

 pits, to the amazement of the operatives ; some of 

 the rarest species of our Florn, and many new ones, 

 I have found within a few minutes' walk of my own 

 house. I once found a rare Lentinus on a log as it 

 was being carted down King William Street, and a 

 year or so ago an undescribed Feziza flourished 

 inside my cistern. 



Collecting fungi is not without its humours as 

 well as its pleasures, as the following will show. 

 I once saw a portly, well-dressed gentleman walking 

 along the high road, with his vasculum over his 



