The Life of the Fly 



duration and lacking In consistency. I made 

 the attempt with the edible boletus {Boletus 

 edidis, BULL.), the famous ccpe of our 

 kitchens, so highly esteemed for its flavour. 

 I was wondering whether it would not be pos- 

 sible to obtain from it a sort of Liebig's ex- 

 tract of fungus, which would be useful in cook- 

 ing. With this purpose, I had some of these 

 mushrooms cut into small pieces and boiled, 

 on the one hand, in plain water and, on the 

 other, in water with bicarbonate of soda 

 added. The treatment lasted two whole days. 

 The flesh of the boletus was indomitable. To 

 attack it, I should have had to employ violent 

 drugs, which were inadmissible in view of the 

 result to be attained. 



What prolonged boiling and the aid of bi- 

 carbonate of soda leave almost intact the Fly's 

 grubs quickly turn into fluid, even as the Flesh- 

 worms fluidify hard-boiled white of egg. This 

 is done in each instance without violence, prob- 

 ably by means of a special pepsin, which is not 

 the same in both cases. The liquefier of meat 

 has its own brand; the liquefier of the boletus 

 has another sort. The plate, then, is filled 

 with a dark, running gruel, not unlike tar in 

 appearance. If we allow evaporation free 

 course, the broth sets into a hard, easily 

 410 



