32 BRITISH EDI15LE FUNGI. 



fungus with which the ordinary Cockney is most 

 practically acquainted. It certainly has a stronger 

 odour than the true mushroom, and a stronger flavour, 

 especially when raw. We have often found it very 

 agreeable to gather and eat fresh young specimens of 

 the mushroom, whilst the gills are still pink. Not 

 only agreeable, but useful, for when abroad on a day's 

 excursion, one or two of these raw specimens are an 

 excellent substitute for sandwiches, as they satisfy 

 hunger, are nutritive and digestible, and very pleasant 

 and grateful to the palate. Young specimens of the 

 horse mushroom may be eaten in the same manner, 

 but in this state they are not so agreeable. Either of 

 them may be sliced and placed inside a sandwich, as 

 a sort of condiment, with good results. Persoon says 

 that the horse mushroom is superior to the common 

 mushroom -in smell, taste, and digestibility, for which 

 reasons it is generally preferred in France. 



Allusion has already been made to the large size of 

 this species. An instance has been recorded of a 

 specimen weighing five pounds and six ounces and 

 measuring forty-three inches in circumference. 

 Withering, the botanist, mentions another which 

 weighed/ourteen pounds. We have had no experience 

 of specimens exceeding ten or twelve inches in 

 diameter, although we have been told that they will 

 attain as much as twenty or twenty-four inches, but 

 of this we must beg to remain sceptical. 



There is something so characteristic in this, as well 



