OP BRITISH FUNGI. 5.9 



The genus Russula may be known from the last by 

 the stiff, sharp-edged gills not being milky. It con- 

 tains some of the best and some 'of the worst of fungi, 

 viewed in an alimentary aspect, and some of the most 

 brilliantly coloured of British species. There is evi- 

 dence of the little interest which fungi have hitherto 

 possessed in the popular mind, in the general absence 

 of vulgar or local names for the different species. This 

 may in part be accounted for in the similarity of exter- 

 nal form in many of the Agarics, but other causes have 

 had their influence. A mushroom, a toadstool, and a puff- 

 ball in many districts will comprise the entire vocabulary 

 for the larger kinds. Had they been pleasant to the eye, 

 agreeable to the nose, or of reputed miraculous power in 

 curing the ills that flesh is heir to, each would have 

 enjoyed a cognomen by which it would have been recog- 

 nized as readily as the dandelion or daisy, heartsease or 

 violet. Returning, however, to Russula, which we 

 cannot characterize by a more popular name. Of two 

 species found in woods which are deserving of notice, 

 one (R. vesca) is far from common, and the characters 

 are scarcely such as could be described without fear of 

 mistake on the part of the unscientific, or those to 

 whom the plant is hitherto unknown. Had our space 

 permitted of the introduction of a figure, some of these 

 difficulties would doubtless have vanished. 



The other species (R. heterophylla), though very 

 variable in colour, is so common and well known, at 

 least by sight, if not by name, that, with our figure 

 (PL 4, lower figure) before us, we will venture a 



