THE RUSSULES. l85 



cap a mealy or mouldy appearance. The stem is 

 short and thick, sometimes contorted by its efforts to 

 push up the cap through 'a resisting soil, fleshy but 

 fragile and white. The gills are white, very brittle, 

 but usually simple, with here and there one which 

 is forked towards the outer extremity. This is a 

 very distinct fungus, easy of recognition, and gastro- 

 nomically one of the best. The Italians recommend 

 cooking it on the gridiron, but Dr Badham says that 

 the peasants about Milan are in the habit of putting 

 it. over wood embers to toast, eating it afterwards 

 with a little salt, in which way it has a savoury smell 

 and a taste like that of a crab. Although it is said 

 to dry well, it is not one of the best of species for 

 that purpose. With no perceptible odour when fresh, 

 it acquires one in drying, which we confess is rather 

 strong, but we fail to recognize in it any resemblance 

 to salt meat. 



Another mild and agreeable species is the pinkish 

 russule {Russuia vesca) which has a firm convex cap, 

 soon flattened and at length depressed, often veined 

 and streaked. The colour varies, as it does in most 

 of the species, in intensity, but it is generally of a 

 fleshy pink, darkened in the centre, and occasionally 

 suffused with a flush of lilac. The diameter is 

 commonly about three inches, with a firm, solid stem, 

 rather peculiarly reticulated and normally white, 

 occasional]}' dashed or patched with pink. The gills 

 are white, many of them forked, rather close to- 



