128 Bibliographical Notices. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



A Treatise on the Esculent Funguses of England. By C. D. Bad- 

 ham, M.D. 8vo. Reeve, Brothers, 1847. 



This is the work of a person of considerable tact and powers of 

 observation, and has the singular merit of containing much that is 

 new and interesting on a subject which has been treated again and 

 again by persons of as various merit as the books they have pub- 

 lished. The prospectus was peculiarly well drawn up, and was cal- 

 culated to make a very favourable impression. The work itself forms 

 a handsome octavo volume ; the illustrations are for the most part 

 admirable, and faithfully represent the species with which they 

 profess to make the unlearned reader familiar, and the culinary 

 " indications " such as will satisfy the most fastidious. 



Dr. Badham does not pretend to be a learned mycologist, but du- 

 ring a long residence abroad he had collected a mass of information 

 on the subject, to which much has been added since his return, and 

 which he has laid before the public with that ability for which he 

 was remarkable during his earlier course, and which he has displayed 

 in his publication on Insect Life. It would be easy indeed to point 

 out minor errors which a more familiar acquaintance with the works 

 of some of the leading mycologists of the day would have enabled 

 him to avoid, but these are of little importance, and do not at all 

 detract from the general merit of the work, which is professedly of a 

 popular character, its very aim being the diffusion of useful know- 

 ledge on a subject too much neglected in this country. 



The mode of cultivation of the common mushroom is familiar to 

 almost every one, though it is not carried in this country to an ex- 

 tent at all proportionate to that which prevails in Paris, where the 

 markets are entirely supplied with mushrooms obtained artificially, 

 millions being produced weekly in the catacombs. In Italy several 

 species are obtained by the most simple processes. At Naples an 

 Agaric is abundantly produced from spent coffee grounds simply by 

 depositing the marc in cellars of a proper temperature. A Polyporus 

 is raised from stony masses impregnated with mycelium by trans- 

 ferring them to the garden with a portion of the original mould and 

 watering them daily. Specimens were some years ago raised by 

 Messrs. Lee of Hammersmith in this way which are preserved in the 

 British Museum. Two other fungi are produced in a very simple 

 manner which w r e do not recollect to have seen noticed before. 

 Dr. Badham shall however speak for himself. 



" A third fungus which we have the means of producing ad libi- 

 tum is that which sprouts from the pollard head of the black poplar ; 

 these heads it is usual to remove at the latter end of autumn as soon 

 as the vintage is over and their marriage with the vine is annulled ; 

 hundreds of such heads are then cut and transported to different 

 parts ; they are abundantly watered during the first month, and in a 

 short time produce that truly delicious fungus Agaricus caudicinus, 

 the Pioppini, which during the autumn of the year make the greatest 



