196 ABOUT FUNGI. [CHAP. 
where, depositing themselves everywhere, and vege- 
tating wherever the conditions are favourable to their 
development” (Cooke). 
Mr. Worthington Smith tells us: “It is hardly 
necessary to specify localities, because fungi abound 
everywhere. If leaf fungi are sought for, hedge-sides 
will produce an abundant crop; if the Agaricini and 
Polyporei, forests and woods must be ransacked; if 
the edible species are wanted, rich open pastures 
(with few exceptions) must be traversed : the various 
species of truffles must be looked for principally in 
leafy glades—many prefer a calcareous subsoil, but 
at times they may be met with even in hedge-sides, 
town parks, or elsewhere.” 
When collected they should be placed in a current 
of dry air for some hours (six to twelve or twenty- 
four, according to size and degree of hardness), so 
that all superfluous moisture may be got rid of. If 
the weather be dry such a current may be obtained 
by raising the window-sash an inch or two, and 
placing the fungi close to it. They must then be 
treated in the same manner as ferns and flowering- 
plants,—gently pressed between sheets of drying 
paper until they are ready to be placed in the herba- 
rium. But the collector should be careful not to leave 
his harvest in any damp atmosphere for a night, for 
in all probability he would next morning find that 
many of them had actually melted away, leaving only 
a dirty patch and a few black shreds to mark where 
they had been. 
But our space is getting exhausted; there is much 
we might add to what we have written, but our object 
