THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 25I 



The specimens collected tluiiiij^ the day were aiTanj^cd on tables in a room in 

 the hotel, and named and labelled by the experts present. 



Over 100 species were listed, includinjj; four new to the Forest Flora : — 



PI etc rot us coliDnhinits 

 Hypholoiiia elceodes 

 Clytopliiliis cancriniis 

 Riissida densifolia 

 These were in addition to the species new to Britain, CoUyhln plaiiipes,. 

 obtained ureviously in the Forest, on September 24tli. 



The collection of specimens was very inteiesting and instructive, and it is a 

 pity that only one afternoon was available for the study ot it. 



Tea was taken at 5.30, and afterwards a meetin<^ was held, the President, Mr. 

 F. W. Rudler, in the chair. The President congratulated those present on a fine 

 day, and very interesting meeting ; they had only to look on the tables, with 

 their wealth of specimens, to discover that the labours of then- collectors had not 

 been made in vain. 



Dr. Cooke made a few remarks on the soecies gathered to^'ether on the 

 tables, and then gave the following address on 



EDIBLE FUNGI. 

 By M. C. COOKE, M.A., LL.D., A.L.S., &c. 



Once again, and year by year, I think more seriously that it may be the last 

 time that I shall face the Essex Field Club at their Annual Foray. Friends may 

 flattei , and try to deceive, but at the same time they know, as well as I do, that 

 the time has come when the chances rapidly diminish. Hence it is best to make 

 the most of the present, and leave the future in " the lap of the gods ! " 



When asked what I should talk about on this occasion, I naturally replied 

 that as one phase of our multiform subject has come rather prominently into 

 notice during the past few weeks, I should confine myself to a few remarks on 

 "Edible Fungi." 



I think I may venture, without undue egotism, to affirm that whatever I may 

 know theoretically, T do know practically more on this subject than any other 

 benighted islander of Great Britain, and possibly of Greater Britain. If I mistake 

 not, it is more than half a century since that I was deluded and ensnared into the 

 study of fungi through the stomach. I have heard it stated that if you want to 

 find away to a man's heart, you will have to approach it through the stomach. 

 Practically this is very true, for if I had never paid a visit to a farm house, and 

 been for a day or two in the company of an intelligent enthusiast, I might never 

 have gone beyond the ordinary knowledge of fungi, represented by the power to 

 distinginsh a mushroom from a toadstool. On this memorable occasion I went 

 as an ignoramus ; but it was autumn, and I soon discovered the hobby of my host.. 

 He produced a number of coloured drawings to my astonished gaze, and informed 

 me that all the fungi shown were good to eat. We strolled into a little wood 

 the next day, and collected enough of the Parasol Mushroom for a meal, and at 

 first, with some fear and trembling, I did eat and was filled. This first meal did 

 its work, and I became a Mycophagist — a fungus-eater. As a memorial of the 

 occasion the coloured figure of the "Parasol Mushroom," which was reproduced 

 in the first edition of my Plain and Easy Account of British Fungi was a 

 facsimile of the drawing, which proved to be the agent of my conversion from the 

 error of my ways, and led me into the track which my feet have trod for half a 

 century. Hence you will observe that I began the study of fungi, as so many 



