100 A CATALOGUE OF ESCULENT BRITISH FUNGI. 



(99.) HYGROPHORUS VIRGINEUS ; The Virgin. 



Habitat. On lawns, commons, pastures, downs, etc. In groups. 



Season. July to October. Very common. 



Pileus. One to two inches across, satin-white, glossy, viscid in 

 wet, hygrophanous, at length discoloured ; convex, then plane and 

 umbonate, or depressed, wrinkled, lobulate. Margin thin, trans- 

 lucent, inflexed at first. 



Stem. One inch high, firm, tapered below, satiny white, smooth, 

 even, cylindrical, naked. 



Section. Flesh thin, translucent. Stem stuffed, fibrous. Gills 

 satiny white, few, thick, unequal, distant, broad, veined, decurrent. 

 Odour slight. Taste good. Spores white. 



Obs. Included in chapter vii. A very excellent comestible. — W.D.H. 



Genus LACTARIUS. 

 Obs. The grand characteristic of this genus is the milky juice which exudes 

 from the gills or flesh when wounded. In roost species this juice is white like 

 milk, in some it is coloured, and in some it changes colour on exposure. We 

 have about thirty species in this country, and they are of common occurrence. 

 There are but two which are so entirely wholesome and of such excellent quality 

 as to be really commendable esculents, viz. the Eedmilk and the Kidney. 

 English fungus-eaters will do well to regard these two apart from their con- 

 geners. But it would be wrong to confound all the rest together under the ban 

 of suspicion. In France, Germany, and Eussia a good many kinds are com- 

 monly eaten, in the last mentioned country loarticularly. Yet many of these 

 are acrid, and they ought all to be subjected to a certain preparation before 

 being cooked, for which I have given a receipt. Not otherwise is it agreeable or 

 perhaps safe to partake of them. Moreover, cautious attention must be paid 

 to the differences of species, for it will be found that several undoubtedly very 

 poisonous species of Lactar are included in my list of detrimentals. I here 

 describe several species which arc freely eaten abroad, and which are therefore 

 edible, in spite of the great suspicion which their close alliance with poisonous 

 congeners has caused to be aimed at them. But I do not personally recommend 

 any of these edibles — except the Eedmilk and the Kidney ; and I advise any 

 who wish to try them to be very careful in preparing them according to the 

 process I have elsewhere indicated. — W. D. H. 



(100.) LACTARIUS CONTROVERSUS ; The Bloodstain. 



Habitat. Under trees on lawns, in woods. In groups. 



Season. July to October. Common. 



Piletcs. Three to six inches across, white, with blood-red spots 

 and streaks, floccose at first, then smooth, soapy to the touch, viscid 

 in wet ; convex, then plane, depressed, sub-infundibuliform. 

 Margin at first involute and villose, thin, irregular. 



