CONTINENTAL NOTES FRANCE. 151 



that it remains white if the fungus is harmless. It is wrong, 

 too, to say that a good fungus smells nice (like fresh flour), 

 and a bad one nasty. Though generally one that smells 

 disagreeable is poisonous, the converse is not true. 



Some fungi, of which the principle is 7HUscarine, do not, 

 as a rule, kill you, though they make you very ill. There 

 are worse fungi, which poison with phaliine, destroying the 

 blood corpuscles, and recovery is rare. 



No one can master this subject except under the guidance 

 of a perfect connoisseur who can point out the distinctive 

 characteristics of each kind, and one should study only a 

 few kinds at a time. But there is no doubt that there are 

 great possibilities with edible fungi. Before the war they 

 used to cultivate them in the environs of Paris, in dark 

 galleries among old quarries, to such an extent that the daily 

 out-turn was estimated at 25,000 kilogrammes (between 24 

 and 25 tons). 



IV. — A society in Switzerland has created a national park 

 of 34,300 acres in the Canton of Grisons, at the east end of the 

 country. It lies between 1370 and 3178 metres altitude, and is 

 forest-clad in the lower and middle parts, above which are 

 snow peaks. With some difficulty all occupants, grazing, etc., 

 have been bought out. In earlier days the forests were a good 

 deal exploited, but henceforth they will remain completely 

 untouched, even the considerable accumulation of debris due 

 to storms and avalanches being left alone. This may lead 

 to insect invasions, but it is hoped that the shortness of the 

 period of vegetation in this high land will save the forests from 

 ruin. In any case the entomologists will have a happy time, 

 for it is an interesting feature of this undertaking that there is 

 attached to it a commission of scientists, whose business it is 

 to study nature here in an untrammelled state under its various 

 heads. The forests consist of mountain pine and the form 

 known as torch pine, which extend from the lowest point to 

 the limit of tree-growth ; the Scots pine (var. Ejigadensis) in 

 the lower ground facing south, this pine having here a columnar 

 habit; larch; spruce; P. Ce??ibra ; and birch. The fauna 

 consists of chamois, roebuck, red deer, fox, and hare. The 

 park is reached through Coire by Zernez or Tarasp, and there is 

 rail communication to these points. 



