430 pliny's natural history. [Look XXII. 



flesh of which is red,^^ the colour being more pronounced than 

 that of the mushroom. The next best are the white ^® ones, the 

 stems of which have a head very similar to the apex^'' worn by 

 the riamens ; and a third kind are the suilli,^ very conve- 

 niently adapted for poisoning. Indeed, it is but very recently 

 that they have carried off whole families, and all the guests at 

 a banquet ; Annaeus Serenus,^^ for instance, the prefect of Nero's 

 guard, together with all the tribunes and centurions. What 

 great pleasure, then, can there be in partaking of a dish of so 

 doubtful ^^ a character as this ? Some persons have classified 

 these fungi according to the trees to which they are indebted 

 for their formation, the fig, for instance, the fennel -giant, and 

 the gummiferous trees ; those belonging to the beech, the robur, 

 and the cypress, not being edible, as already mentioned."'^ But 

 who is there to give us a guarantee when they come to market, 

 that these distinctions have been observed ? 



All the poisonous fungi are of a livid colour ; and the degree 

 of similaritj^ borne by the sap of the tree itself to that of the 

 fig will afford an additional indication whether they are venom- 

 ous or not. AYe have already mentioned ^' various remedies 

 for the poison of fungi, and shall have occasion to make mention 

 of others ; but in the mean time, it will be as well to observe 

 that they themselves also have some medicinal*^ uses. Glaucias 



55 The Agaricus campestris of Linnaeus, Fee thinks, our common field 

 mushroom, or, possibly, the Agaricus deliciosus of Linnaeus. 



^ The Agaricus procerus of Schoefer, probably, the tall columelle, Fee 

 thinks. 



^"^ A cap worn by the Flamen; or chief-priest, of a somewhat conical 

 shape ; very similar in form to the Russian helmet of the present day. 



^** " Swine mushrooms." Fee suggests that this may be the Boletus 

 edulis of FiuUiard. 



^"^ A valued friend of the philosopher Seneca, as we learn from Tacitus, 

 and Seneca's Epistles, Ep. 63. 



*o See Martial's Epigrams, B. i. Ep. 2L 



*i In B. xvi. c. 11. In that passage, however, the pine is mentioned. 

 and not the beech. 



*2 In B. XX. c. 13, ef pa.tsim. 



*3 Fee says that the fungi are but little used in modern medicine : the 

 whitjD bolet, he says, or larch bolot, is sometimes employed as a purgative, 

 and some German writers have spoken in praise of the Boletus suaveolens 

 of BuUiard. as a remedy for pulmonary phthisis. The agaric known aa 

 amailue, or German tinder, is also employed in surgery. Fee remarks that 

 uil that Pliny says as to the medicinal properties of mushrooms and fungi 

 is more or less hazardous. 



