70 NATURAL SCIENCE. m^^ch. 



British Edible Fungi : How to Distinguish and how to Cook them. With 

 coloured plates of upwards of forty species. By M. C. Cooke, M.A., LL.D. 

 Pp. 237. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Trlibner & Co., 1891. Price 6s. net. 



" Fungus-eating is on the increase, thanks to field clubs and their 

 fungus forays ; but the complaint has been heard for many years that 

 no efficient handbook for the guidance of young or inexperienced 

 mycophagists could be found in the English language." With this 

 apology for the present work, Dr. Cooke, as one of the oldest fungus- 

 eaters, yielding at last to the importunities of his fungus-eating 

 friends, proceeds to give the results of his experience. In this he 

 does not confine his remarks to a mere description of the different 

 species, their habitat, and season, but adds copious notes on their 

 preparation for the table. 



A preliminary chapter is devoted to proving that fungus-eating 

 is "ancient in its origin, and of wide geographical distribution." 

 Martial says Boleti were so prized by the Romans that it was unsafe 

 to send them by a messenger, though one might trust him with silver 

 or gold ; because, explains Dr. Cooke, he would eat them by the way. 

 Dr. Curtis enumerates " 130 excellent species " in the United States. 

 In India " natives eat fungi promiscuously, chopping up the different 

 species together, without any ill effects." In the Malay Peninsula, 

 China, and Japan, dried fungi are an article of commerce, and largely 

 used in soups. Lastly, in Tierra del Fuego they form for several 

 months the staple food of the country. Moreover, we must not 

 regard the many edible species as a mere substitute for Mushrooms, 

 but as having an endless variety in flavour. 



Chapter II. is " explanatory," containing a few general hints. 

 The author can give us " no rule which shall be of universal applica- 

 tion in the discrimination of dangerous fungi. The only safeguard 

 is to become acquainted, by means of well-defined features, with some 

 of the best of the esculent species," and to avoid rash experiments in 

 doubtful cases. " There is no difficulty in recognising all the best 

 kinds by means of ordinary intelligence and care." " Good Fungi," 

 we are told, " have usually a pleasant mushroomy odour, a smell of 

 new meal, a faint scent resembling anise, or no particular odour at 

 all." A fragment of the freshly-gathered fungus should have " an 

 agreeable nutty flavour, with no acridity, sharpness, or tingling upon 

 the tongue." Furthermore, it is suspicious "if a fungus, when 

 broken,^ cut, or bruised, speedily turns of a deep blue or greenish 

 colour." Avoid, therefore, all fungi with a disagreeable odour, a 

 pungency of flavour, and a tendency to become blue when bruised. 

 A species with salmon-coloured spores is rarely worth eating, and 

 may be poisonous. When we have collected our fungi we must 

 " cook without delay, and remember that there is as much art in the 

 cooking as in the selection." 



The next 182 pages are devoted to a description of the various 

 species which Dr. Cooke has either eaten himself, or knows or 

 believes to be eaten " without inconvenience " on the continent or in 

 America. We are told when and where to look for each species, and 

 how best to prepare it for the table. The description is written in 

 language as simple as the circumstances admit, and the characters 

 given are all external, so that with the help of the plates the amateur 

 fungus-hunter should, after a little practice, be able to recognise at 

 any rate the most striking examples. There are twelve plates, 

 including figures of forty-four species, but, unfortunately, they are 

 scattered through the book without any relation to the descriptions. 



