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SOME OBSEEVATIONS ON POPULAEIZING THE 



KNOWLEDGE OF EDIBLE AND POISONOUS 



FUNGI. 



[By William Phillips, F.L.S.] 



It is now nearly 20 years since I first joined the Woolhope Club in a Fungus 

 Foray, and I very well remember that one of the prominent ideas held by the 

 early promoters of these gatherings was that a vast quautitj' of wholesome food 

 lay at the doors of cottagers, and even of well-to-do people, which through 

 ignorance was entirely neglected and left to rot in the place where it grew ; and 

 that one of the great missions of this Club was to dispel the ignorance existing in 

 peoples' minds as to the edible value of a vast quantity of the so-called frogstools. 

 I also remember that to give practical proof that properly selected species, when 

 correctly cooked and served up, were not only harmless, but wholesome and 

 nutritious, the cook at the Green Dragon was served with the right sort, which 

 were prepared, and partaken of at the annual dinner, without any serious results 

 following. I do not remember that our ranks were thinned by a single fatality. 

 Howbeit some sceptics stood by and looked when we should have swollen, or 

 fallen down dead suddenly ; but after they had looked a great while, they changed 

 their minds. Recipes were published in the Transactions of the Club to guide 

 the experimenters in arriving at the most toothsome form in which to prepare 

 them at home, and many returned the following year to tell of their success. 



Now, after these 20 years, I wish to ask the question, what progress has 

 been made in popularising a knowledge of the edible and poisonous species 

 amongst those who have not had the advantage of attending the Herefordshire 

 Forays ? 



The answer is, much in every way. When Fungus Forays were first 

 established there were hardly a hundred men in the kingdom who, if they had 

 been taken into the woods, could have correctly named a hundred species. This 

 was especially true of those whose profession it is to teach Botany, men occupying 

 chairs in the Universities. The 900 Hymenomycetes forming our Flora were to a 

 large extent a blank to them, and were regarded as too low in the vegetable scale 

 to be worthy of attention. This condition of things made it difficult for the 

 organisers of the Forays to make a start. Our valued and lamented friend, whose 

 recent loss we all deplore, the late Rev. Joseph Miles Berkeley, was the great 

 referee to whom doubtful species were submitted. He, with a promptness and 

 kindness never to be forgotton, gave his valuable assistance to all who sought it, 

 and there are few amongst living mycologists who have not profited more or less 

 by his great knowledge. Mr. Worthiugton G. Smith, and Dr. Cooke assisted in 

 the same work. By the aid of these gentlemen, and others known to you all, the 

 members of the Woolhope Club became acquainted with the commoner and rarer 

 types of the genera and sub-genera of the Hymenomycetes. The first result was 



