Edible fungi. Carleton Rea. 41 



and reserve it for winter use or as a flavouring to soups. Lentinus 

 cocMeatus is a toothsome morsel when it is thoroughly cooked 

 and deserv^es a trial for its excellent flavour. For some years 

 I refrained from tr\dng Craterellus cornucopioides as its appear- 

 ance did not appeal to me, but when once tasted all my prejudices 

 vanished and I now rank it amongst one of the best. In my 

 early days I was incHned to think that it only grew at the close 

 of the fungus season but since then I have gathered several 

 collections of it as early as July or August. Having passed 

 in brief re\'iew the leading esculents included in the Agaricineae 

 I will now say a few words about those included under the 

 Boletineae. Personally I do not favour Paxillus involutus as 

 an edible because I rank it in the same category- with Amanita 

 rubescens and consider it too soft to be palatable. It is very 

 probable that I am \\Tong as to this and that both of these may 

 be ver\" highly esteemed by other people. Paxillus giganteus 

 on the contrarv' is a great favourite and I only regret that I so 

 seldom find a large ring of it in good condition. I fear I should 

 only weary you if I were to extol the excellent quahties of the 

 greater number of the Boleti because they are all so ver\' good 

 in their way, of splendid flavour and nice consistency. Before 

 they are cooked I recommend that the tubes should be removed. 

 This I generally do in the field when collecting and it is also 

 ad^'isable, especially with the verv^ ^iscid kinds, to remove the 

 pellicle of the pileus which is generally easily separable. After 

 the tubes have been removed you will often find that there is 

 comparatively httle flesh left to the pileus and so I would lurge 

 ever\' one to bring home all the sound stems as weU, because 

 if these are cut into thin transverse sections they wiU cook in 

 the same time as the rest of the pileus, and in fact cannot be 

 distinguished from it. In this way a few specimens of Boletus 

 ediilis win make quite a nice dish. I certainly consider the 

 members of the edules group the greatest dainties and there- 

 under would include Boletus edulis, B. pinicola, B. reticulatus, 

 B. aestivalis, B. aereus, and B. impolitus. Next in order I would 

 rank Boletus versipellis, B. scaber, B. badius and B. granulatus, 

 and in a lower category B. luteus, B. elegans, B. bovinus, B. 

 chrysenteron and B. subtonienfosus. Gvroporus castaneus is nearly 

 as delicious as Boletus edulis but it is very seldom that one 

 finds it in sufficient quantity for the pot. Amongst the Poly- 

 poraceae there are comparatively only a few that I can with any 

 confidence recommend, but perhaps it is my own lack of ex- 

 perience in this section, because I have not emulated Mrs Hussey 

 in partaking of Polyporus squamosus, which she says is like 

 eating saddle-flaps. Under this head I would enumerate Poly- 

 porus umbellatus, P. frondosus and P. intybaceus, but I consider 



