THE SPARASSIS. 195 



Supposing that these details may have aroused 

 sufficient interest to desire further information, 

 we will attempt a description of its appearance. 

 The general outline of form is usually more 

 or less globose, and the colour either a creamy 

 white or a pale ruddy yellow, not of the lemon 

 yellow tint, but ochraceous yellow, seeming almost 

 white when growing on the ground. The base 

 consists of a thick rooting stem, the greater part sunk 

 in the ground, arising from a profusion of threadlike 

 mycelium. Upwards the stem is many times divided 

 into numerous branches, which are not visible from 

 the outside. The outer aspect is almost brainlike, 

 consisting of flat laminae, curled and folded, intricately 

 combined, and twisted, so as to form a dense mass of 

 sinuous folds or plates, the upper portion producing 

 spores on all sides. In decay the whole fungus 

 softens, becomes brownish, and at length settles into 

 a pulpy mass. 



The sparassis is either found at the base of trees 

 or on heaths, amongst bracken and heather, some- 

 thing like a large cauliflower denuded of its leaves, 

 and lying upon the ground, no stem being visible. 

 It is often partially concealed, but it seems strange 

 that an object so imposing should so seldom be found 

 except by fungus hunters, and not at all until within 

 the last half of this century. 



Of its esculent qualities the accounts are rather 

 barren, except that they are of a high order, which 



