249 



the second edition of Dr. Badham's Esculent Funguses appeared in 1863, after he 

 had spent some time at the baths of Lucca, a comparatively obscure watering- 

 place, in a re°rion remote from the great markets of the country. As I like order, 

 I will take the chief edible species according to their botanical sequence, giving 

 you a brief running commentary as I proceed. 



1. Amanita vaginata was excluded from the markets in Vittadini's time, but 

 I saw it at Bologna, September 29th. 



2. Amanita Ccesarea. Vittadini is right in saying that, with Boletus edulis, 

 it forms almost the only branch of commerce in fungi. It may have been the 

 Boletus of the ancients, but we have no right to assert, as Badham does, that it 

 was. It is now universallj' called Vovolo, and is in the markets of Milan, Ber- 

 gamo, Brescia, Verona, Cremona, Bologna, and other Lombard cities, from the 

 middle of September to the middle of October. At the commencement of the 

 season it fetches about la. a pound. It was usually given me cut up and stewed, 

 or fried in batter. Amanita muscaria, which, when washed by rain, so much 

 resembles it, I may here remark is uncommon in Italy, and though described by 

 Vittadini as "one of the most dangerous fungi known, enclosing a deadly poison," 

 and by all other writers in equally impressive language, yet I doubt if it fully 

 deserves to be so characterised. The peasantry about Nice and Savoy are reported, 

 by a writer in the Field, to use it. Bulliard certainly says he killed dogs and cats 

 in six to nine hours ; but they might well have died from indigestion, after such 

 unnatural food, for he himself ate two ounces and felt nothing, and I have lately 

 made the same innocuous experiment ; therefore, Berkeley's statement that in 

 small doses it produces intoxication and delirium is not warranted by facts. 



3. Concerning Lepiota procerus Badham gives no authority for his assertion 

 that "it is in equal request in Italy with Amanita Caesarea." Vittadini does not 

 say it is sold, and I have never seen it. 



4. Agaricus caudicinus, Badham says, "grows on the head of Populus nigra 

 (var. Neapolitana), which it is usual to remove as soon as the vintage is over, and 

 that it makes the greatest show in many Italian markets." Vittadini tells us it 

 has been confused with Armillaria melleus, and in "Fries" it becomes our old 

 friend Pholiota mutabilis. I have never seen any of these fungi for sale, neither 

 do I expect I shall, because the poplar heads are very rarely amputated. 



One of the delicacies of an Italian market should be Clitopilus prunulus (the 

 Mouceron of France), worth 15d. a pound in Rome, according to Badham, and 

 10s. to 12s. when dried. Its season being March and April, it ought to have been 

 in Rome when I passed the entire spring there this year, but it was only con- 

 spicuous by its absence. 



Perhaps the most startling statement to be found in Badham's sensational 

 book is the passage where he says, that almost the only fungus condemned as 

 poisonous in Rome is our 



6. Common Mushroom: the words of Professor Sanguinetti, his authority, 

 are — "The sale is absolutely prohibited of the so-called Prateroli." Evidently the 

 question turns upon whether pratiolo means Agaricus campestris. In Bologna, 

 long a Pontifical town, I saw mushrooms selling in the market for 40c. the kilo- 



