110 A PLAIN AND EAST ACCOUNT 



while the truffle and morell obtain at times most ex- 

 travagant prices. During the past summer a country 

 gentleman, living remote from town and railway, has 

 assured us that his own kitchen and those of many of 

 his friends, are kept with a supply of Helvellas for 

 culinary purposes, from year to year. In Sweden and 

 Germany they are considered equal to the morell, and 

 are known in the latter country under the name of 

 Gemeine morchel or Stumpf morchel. 



In the succeeding genus, Verpa, we meet with forms 

 somewhat intermediate between the pileate or capped 

 Hehella and the club-shaped Geoglossum ; both species 

 are, however, rare. The only species of Spathularia, 

 with a yellowish spoon-shaped head, is more common, 

 as are also two or three of Geoglossum. In this genus 

 the receptacle is club-shaped and simple, with the 

 fructifying surface surrounding the club, and as our 

 figure of G. olivaceum (PL 17) will show, might at first 

 be taken for a species of Clavaria. Both the common 

 species of this genus are black, and there is no fear of a 

 tyro cooking them instead of a Clavaria, from which 

 they are further removed by the unbranched and dis- 

 tinctly clubbed termination. One of these is hairy (G. 

 hirsutum) and the other smooth {G. diffbrme), and 

 both are found growing amongst grass. 



The succession of such forms as are met with in the 

 genus Peziza seems to be far more sudden. The cup- 

 shaped form of the fully expanded plant alone being 

 considered, it would seem to be out of place ; but its 

 structural association is far more complete. The genus 



