Tlie following remarks by various authors show how it has 

 been regarded: "It is justly enumerated among the most sapid 

 fungi;" "no fungus is more fjopular;" "it is an excellent plant, 

 whether used as a condiment or a food;" "it is edible and de- 

 licious;" "by a confirmed fungus-eater it would be pronounced 

 most charming." My own trials of it would lead me to place it 

 among the best and most important of our mushrooms. 



The Orange chantarelJe, Cmitharellus aurantiacus, which is 

 not deemed edible, and which has a slight superficial resemblance 

 tc this species, may be known by its more dingy-colored cap, and 

 by its orange-colored gills, which branch by a regular bifurcation, 

 not by an irregular ramification. It is much more rare than the 

 Chantarelle. 



We now come to a family of fungi called Polyporeae, in 

 which the cap has no gills, but instead of them, the lower surface 

 is full of minute pores, holes, or cells. The spores of the fungus 

 are Tjroduced in these pores and may be caught as they drop from 

 them, just as in agarics when they are dropped from the gills. 

 Their color, however, is not of the same importance in classifica- 

 tion and identification of this family as it is in the preceding ones. 



The edible species here noticed belong to three genera. Boletus, 

 Polyporus and Fistulina. Their essential characters may be 

 learned from the following comparative table: 



Pores compacted together and forming a con- 

 tinuous stratum, 1. 

 Pores each in a distinct tube, Fistulina. 

 1. Stratum of pores easily separable from the cap, Boletus. 

 1. Stratum of pores not separable from the cap, Polyporus. 



In the genus Boletus the mass of cells or the porous substance 

 on the lower surface of the cap may be easily and smoothly re- 

 moved from the cap by pressing it outwardly from the stem to- 

 ward the margin. This is the chief character by which to sepa- 

 rate species of Boletus from species of Polyporus. ISTearly all bo- 

 leti grow on the ground, have the stem centrally attached to the 

 cap, and have a soft or fleshy substance. Most of the edible spe- 

 cies are well-flavored and of a fairly large size. Some have a nut- 

 ty flavor that is very agreeable to most people. Unfortunately 

 for fungus eaters many of them grow only in warm and wet or 

 showery weather when insects are numerous, and therefore they 

 are ver^^ likely to be infested by larvae. Care must be taken to 

 reject all such specimens. The stems also must be discarded be- 

 cause of toughness, and the pores removed before cooking, for 

 they are apt to form a very disagreeable mucilaginous or slimy 



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