OF BRITISH FUNGI. 9 



The forms which these singular plants assume are 

 extremely diversified : in some instances we have a 

 distinct stem supporting a cap, and looking somewhat 

 like a parasol ; in others the stem is entirely absent, 

 and the cap is attached either by its margin, and is 

 said to be dimidiate, or by its back, or that which is 

 more commonly its upper surface, when it is called 

 resupinate. Sometimes the form and colour so nearly 

 resemble that of a tongue, that, as Dr. Badham says, 

 " in the days of enchanted trees you would not have 

 cut it off to pickle or eat on any account, lest the 

 knight to whom it belonged should afterwards come to 

 claim it of you." In some species the form is that of 

 a cup ; in others of a goblet, a saucer, an ear, a birds- 

 nest, a horn, a bunch of coral, a ball, a button, a 

 rosette, a lump of jelly, or a piece of velvet. Indeed, 

 so protean are they in shape, that description fails in 

 giving an adequate idea of their variety. 



In colour they are almost as variable as in shape : 

 in one or two instances decidedly green ; but this colour 

 must be considered as rare amongst them. We have 

 all shades of red, from light pink to deepest crimson ; 

 all tints of yellow, from sulphureous to orange ; all 

 kinds of browns, from palest ochre to deepest umber ; 

 and every gradation between pale grey and sooty black. 

 Blue and violet tints do not abound ; but even these, 

 as well as a beautiful amethyst, occasionally occur. 

 White or creamy tints are very common. There is a 

 livid and suspicious shade to many of the species, not 

 peculiarly attractive to the disinterested observer. 



