230 



HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE- G SSI P. 



rich milk, and in an atmospheric churn, and he had 

 failed to detect bacilli in such butter, so long as it 

 was fresh. He therefore considered bacilli in fiesh 

 butter as a proof that it was made by the process 

 adopted throughout Bengal ; but not as a proof 

 per se of the employment of tank-water. At the 

 close of the meeting Mr. Meade exhibited butter 

 bacilli, and several test tubes, each containing butter, 

 which showed that, in some cases, at least 30 per 

 cent, of water is contained in Bengal butter. The 

 president exhibited cultivations of butter fungi in 

 sterilized potatoes. Among other objects exhibited 

 were the circulation of blood in a frog's foot, arranged 

 diatoms, cyclosis in sections of Valllisneria, and a 

 mite, of which a description will be found elsewhere 

 in our pages. The process of manufacturing butter 

 in India seems to stand in need of reform. 



RECENT ARTICLES AND PAPERS WORTH 

 READING. 



BELGIAN Fossil Reptiles," by L. Dollo 

 ("Geol. Mag," September).— " Compara- 

 tive Chemistry of the Higher and Lower Plants," by 

 Helen C. De S. Abbot ("American Naturalist," 

 August). — "On the Measurement of the Magni- 

 fying Power of Microscopic Objectives," by W. P. 

 Marshall ("Midland Naturalist," Sept.).— " On the 

 Forms of Seedlings and the causes to which they are 

 due," by Sir John Lubbock, Bart. ("Journal Lin- 

 nean Soc." August). — "The Gentian: Notes and 

 Queries," by Professor Huxley ("Journal Linnean 

 Soc." Aug.). — " The Great Ice Age and Subsequent 

 Formation at Ottawa," by H. M. Arni ("Ottawa 

 Naturalist," Aug.).— "The Geology of Orton Hills," 

 by W. W. Cullwick (" Wesley Naturalist," Sept.).— 

 "The Reptiles of Western India," by J. A. Murray 

 ("Indian Annals Nat. Hist." June).— " The Lepi- 

 doptera of Hampshire," by Rev. A. C. Hervey 

 ("Proceedings Hampshire Field Club," No. 1).— 

 " The Study of Insect Life," by W. J. Simmons 

 ("Madras Christian College Mag." April).— " Edi- 

 son's Method of Generating Electricity direct from 

 Fuel" (" Eng. Mechanic," Sept. 9). 



A FEW MORE REMARKS ON FUNGI. 



I SHOULD like to supplement Mr. Addison's 

 observations on Fungi by some information 

 derived from recent experience. During the last 

 three years, I have been recording the larger kinds of 

 fungi that grow in the county of Bedford. The last 

 published list appeared in Dr. Abbot's " Flora Bed- 

 fordiensis," and bears date 1S00. The number there 

 described, including microscopical species, is 381. I 

 have given my attention only to those visible to the 

 naked eye, and by the kind assistance of Mr. W. B. 

 Grove, have distinguished 189, mostly Agaricini. 



Last year, at Northampton, I obtained a curious one, 

 new to Britain, named Agaricus proboscideus. 



Last year was a good one for the mushroom and its 

 congeners, for they flourished from the beginning of 

 July, to the end of November, and even in December 

 I was well supplied with specimens. This year, 

 owing to the dry weather, has hitherto been a barren 

 one. The only species that I have found with any- 

 thing like frequency, is Polyporus squamosus, and 

 that growing to an unusually enormous size. I even 

 saw it exhibited at a flower show. In the spring, 

 there was a very extensive growth in both Beds, and 

 Northants. of Morchella esculent a, and I find its 

 excellent properties are very generally recognised by 

 the country people hereabouts, although two or three 

 farmers to whom I showed a specimen, said they 

 had never seen anything like it before in their lives, 

 and they would not eat it for £50. M. crassipes is also 

 frequent about here. Contrary to most fungologists, 

 I am quite satisfied that the edible fungi generally will 

 never become popular articles of food, and for the 

 following reasons : — (1) The technical knowledge 

 required to distinguish them ; (2) the too great resem- 

 blance of many of them to poisonous sorts ; (3) their 

 perishable qualities, which make them anything but 

 suitable for market ; (4) the irregularity and un- 

 certainty of their appearance, to which may be 

 added the difficulty of cultivating them ; and (5) the 

 importance attaching to the methods of cooking the 

 various kinds. Upon these points little need be said. 

 Any one who has approached the subject, even after 

 considerable experience in botany, will know what 

 difficulties surround the identification of species in the 

 present state of mycological literature. The species 

 are so varying, that even Dr. Cooke's plates are not 

 reliable. Many eminent authorities, as, for example, 

 Mr. Worthington G. Smith, describe how they have 

 been misled in their gastronomic experiments. In 

 regard to one so highly recommended as Boletus eJulis, 

 Mr. Smith says he ate several sj^ecies before he hit 

 upon the right one, especially B. chrysenteron, and I 

 have myself eaten B. badius for it, without, it is true, 

 experiencing any disagreeable result, but, neverthe- 

 less, without relishing it. No one more highly relishes 

 Marasntias oreades than I do, and yet I never partake 

 of a dish without fear and trembling, lest I have 

 included the deadly M. urens, which once gave Mr. 

 W. G. Smith such a mauvais quart d'/ieure. If I, 

 who have pretensions to some knowledge of the 

 subject, entertain apprehensions of being poisoned, 

 how shall the humble classes, who have little leisure to 

 intimately sudy anything, become enamoured of these 

 articles of diet without incurring the risks that are 

 bred of rashness and ignorance ? A few months ago, 

 I showed a near relative specimens of morell, and we 

 cooked and ate them. Some weeks later, I found 

 my friend was on the point of cooking and eating a 

 specimen of Phallus impudicus, which he thought was 

 a young stage of the morell. Now, he was a man of 



