408 Scientijic JntelUgence — Botany. 



BOTANY. 



17. Esculent Funguses of England. — The English are not a 

 fungus-eating nation, — and in the '* good old times" this might 

 have been as much a boast as the common one, that we never eat 

 frogs. The question is, whether we are the better or the wiser for 

 not eating the one any more than the other. Though we do not 

 eat frogs like our neighbours the French, we are rather celebrated 

 for our love of another of the reptilian family, turtle. There is no 

 reason why we should eschew frogs, and relish turtle. There is 

 still less for our eating one or two of the numberless edible funguses 

 which our island produces, and condemning all the rest as worse 

 than useless, under the name of " toad-stools." It is not so on the 

 continent of Europe ; where very generally the various species of 

 fungi are esteemed agreeable and important articles of diet. The 

 great drawback on the use of these esculents in this country is, that 

 some are poisonous, and few persons possess the skill to distinguish 

 them, with the exception of one or two species, from those which 

 are edible. In the markets at Rome, there is an " inspector of 

 funguses," versed in botany, and whose duty it is to examine and 

 report on all such plants exposed for sale. The safety with which 

 these vegetables may be eaten, has led to a very large consumption 

 in that city, where not less than 140,000 pounds weight, worth 

 L.4000 sterling, are annually consumed. This in a population of 

 156,000 souls. We cannot estimate the value of funguses in our 

 own country for an article of diet as less than in Italy ; nor believe 

 that the supply would be in a less ratio. If this be correct, the 

 value of the funguses which are allowed to spring up and die, wasted 

 in Great Britain, would be about half a million sterling in each 

 year. — Athenceum, No. 1037, p. 948. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



1. A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarc- 

 tic Regions during the years 1839-43. By Captain Sir James Clark 

 Ross, R.N. With Plates, Maps, and Woodcuts. In 2 vols. 8vo. 

 London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 184:7. 



2. Illustrations of Instinct, deduced from the Habits of British Ani- 

 mals. By J. Couch, F.L.S., &c. London : John Van Voorst. 1847. 



4. Lehrbuch der Chemischen und Physikalischen Geologic. Von Dr 

 G. Bischof. Bonn, 1847. Vol. 1. 



4. Lehrbuch der Physikalischen Geographic und Geologic. 8vo. 

 Bern. 



