OF BRITISH FUNGI. 97 



omelette is half so good in richness and delicacy of 

 flavour. I am too glad to seize upon them when I can 

 get them ; of course, in the soft pulpy state/' This is 

 not the only testimony we have of their excellence. 

 Another connoisseur says, " The puff-ball makes such an 

 excellent omelette, and is so much better than any 

 mushroom I ever before tasted, that it ought not to be 

 called mushroom." To this we may add our own expe- 

 rience, derived while this work is passing through the 

 press. A gardener brought us a large puff-ball, equal 

 in size to a half-quartern loaf, and which was still in its 

 young and pulpy state, of a beautiful creamy whiteness 

 when cut. It had been found developing itself in a 

 garden at Highgate, and to the finder its virtues were 

 unknown. We had this specimen cut in slices of about 

 half an inch in thickness, the outer skin peeled off, 

 and each slice dipped in an egg which had been 

 beaten up, then sprinkled with bread-crumbs, and 

 fried in butter, with salt and pepper. The result was 

 exceedingly satisfactory ; and finding this immense 

 fungus more than our family could consume whilst it 

 remained fresh, we invited our friends to partake, 

 and they were as delighted as ourselves with the 

 new breakfast relish, to them, and to us the first, 

 but we hope not the last, experiment upon a fried 

 puff-ball. 



The great puff-ball has an ancient reputation for the 

 stanching of blood, and was consequently dried and 

 preserved by many a good housewife in days gone by, 

 and is still considered by some of the antique dames of 



H 



