and although for the sake of consistency in nomenclature we adhere to that of Pries, sanguineus is certainly 

 a far better designation than the one inscribed beneath it. The particular Fungus from which this drawing 

 was made grew in Hampshire^ near Avington, a soil and chmate which are particularly favourable to their 

 developement ; in full maturity the mass of tubes becomes much deeper, and more convex ; the whole 

 Boletus darker than in the plate, which is of mediiun age and its spores have not as yet distended the tubes, 

 nor coloured them, as they do in ripening. 



It would be rash to try experiments upon Satanspilz as an article of consumption ; we have never 

 eaten it. Its relative, B. limdiis, is decidedly poisonous ; neither of these fortunately can be confounded 

 with the esculent Boletus, which at no period has the sHghest red, among its various shades of colour. 



At the risk of being charged with repetition by the learned, it will be better for the ignorant that the 

 Boletus of modern Mycology should have its peculiar characters again defined, more particularly as the 

 student, if the library at his command contain any works upon the subject at aU, will be certainly puzzled by 

 finding that Withering, Sowerby, Purton, Eelhan, &c., in short all our EngKsh authorities, with the exception 

 of Gray and of Mr. Berkeley's contributions to the ' English Flora ', wliich are conformed to Fries' ' Systema 

 Mycologica,' follow Linnteus, and unite Polyporus, &c., with Boletus. The following extract, therefore, from 

 Vittadini, can scarcely be deemed superfluous. " All those Funguses with soft flesh, are called Boletuses, wliich 

 have the under surface of the cap covered with vertical, cylindrical, or angular (pohedri) small tubes ; slightly 

 connected viitli each other, and with the substance of the cap ; open below, and internally lined with a 

 fructiferous membrane. The Boletuses have a central stem, often reticulated ; the cap always horizontal, 

 determinate, particularly fleshy, hemispherical or plano-convex. Many among them are furnished with a 

 partial veil more or less apparent. 



****** 



" Linnaeus under the generic name of Boletus assembled promiscuously, all the fleshy, coriaceous, or 

 corky Funguses provided with tubes or pores. Schoefi'er, BuUiard, Persoon, and many other distinguished 

 botanists followed his example; whereas Fries in his 'Systema,' follofl-ing the steps of DiUen and MicheH, 

 retained, under the name of Boletus, only the soft-fleshed species, having tubes connected together, that is, 

 the true SuiUi of the ancients, strikingly illustrated by that same Florentine mycologist (Micheli) and he 

 (Fries) comprehends the others in the genera Polyporus and Fistulina".' 



Vitt. Descrizione dei Funghi Mangereoci. Page, xxxvii. 



