42 Rev. "W. Houghton's Notices of Fungi 



to remove at the latter end of autumn, as soon as the vintage 

 is over, and thus marriage with the vine is annulled ; hun- 

 dreds of such heads are then cut and transported to different 

 parts ; they are abundantly watered during the first month, 

 and in a short time produce that truly delicate fungus Aga- 

 ricus caudicinus, the Pioppini, which during the autumn of 

 the year make the greatest show in many of the Italian 

 market-places. These pollard blocks continue to bear for 

 from twelve to fourteen years. I saw a row of them in the 

 Botanic Garden at Naples, which, after this period, were 

 still productive, though less frequently, and of few agarics at 

 a crop " (Escul. Fung. p. 50). The A. caudicinus here 

 mentioned is perhaps the A. cegerita of Fries (Epicr. p. 219, 

 2nd edit.), the Champ, du peuplier of Paul. p. 30 1 ; of white 

 flesh and pleasant odour ; but the fungus appears to have been 

 confused with the A. melleus (" iStockschwamm " of the 

 Germans) and the A. (Pholiuta) mutabilis. 



Mr. Bicknell throws doubt on Dr. Badham's story ; he 

 says, " I have never seen either A. melleus or Pit. mutabiiis 

 for sale, neither do I expect I shall, if I have to wait till the 

 poplar heads are amputated "*. These poplar fungi, whatever 

 be the species, have been known from the times of Dioscorides, 

 through that of the compiler of the ' Geoponica,' until this 

 day. With respect to what is stated in the ' Geoponica,' 

 about getting fungi to grow on spots where wood has been 

 burnt, every fungus-collector knows how prone certain kinds 

 are to grow on charcoal-rings where wood has been burnt. 



Truffles. 



The Greek name for a truffle is vhvov, a word which has 

 several times occurred in the course of this paper. The 

 Latin name is tuber, which mycologists still retain. Linnaeus, 

 without the slightest reason, appropriated the old Greek word 

 for a truffle, and made it into a genus (Ili/duum), to denote 

 the fungi which have an awl-shaped hymenium ; and this 

 unfortunately selected word retains this meaning to this day. 

 Equally unfortunate is the use of the word Agaricus by Lin- 

 naeus to designate fungi whose fruit-bearing surface or hyme- 

 nium is lamellose ; and the same may be said of the appli- 

 cation of the boletus of the ancients, which, as we have seen, 



* Fries says that the " Stockschwamm " of the Germans is not 

 A. mutabilis, but A. melleus (Epic. p. 225, 2nd edit.) ; but the figure 

 which Schaeffer (pi. ix. ) gives of the Stockschwamm of the Bavarians is 

 clearly A. (I'holiota) mutabilis. Lenz, without hesitation, refers the 

 poplar-fungus to A. mutabiiis, SehaefF., and says that the people, to this 

 day, water the old stumps, and that the fungus is known in Italy as the 

 famiyliola buona (Botanik, p. 704, note). 



