140 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



what the flavour of oysters, although we fear they 

 have been carried away by their imagination. Hav- 

 ing had some experience in the flavour of oysters, 

 and also in that of the oyster mushroom, we regret 

 to confess that our imagination did not suggest a 

 resemblance. It is a firm, fleshy fungus, and when 

 slowly and carefully cooked, a pleasant and digestible 

 one, but it may be spoiled by bad treatment, and any 

 way, we prefer the elm tree mushroom, hereafter 

 described. 



The methods of cooking for all the species in- 

 cluded in this chapter would be identical, and hence 

 may be relegated to the end. 



Some misapprehension has filled the minds of 

 persons who should have known better, that another 

 species, very similar to the above in all essential par- 

 ticulars, is unsafe and possibly deleterious. Having 

 eaten it ourselves we can at once dispel the illusion, 

 and afiirm that the Agarzcus euosmus is quite as 

 good, and equally trustworthy, with the oyster mush- 

 room. As already indicated, the two are almost 

 identical in appearance and colour, so that the descrip- 

 tion of one will apply generally to the other, with 

 this one exception, that in Agaricus eiiosimis there is 

 a faint pinkish tinge about the gills, and the spores as 

 they fall are not of a pure white but of a very pale 

 rose colour, with a slight suggestion of violet, and the 

 odour is a little difl'erent, possessing a resemblance to 

 tarragon. It is not so common as the oyster mush- 



