Chap. 47.] FUNGI. 429 



ise of them should be altogether rejected ; for if by chance 

 ,hey should happen to grow near a hob-na.il, 30 a piece of rusty 

 ron, or a bit of rotten cloth, they will immediately imbibe all 

 rhese foreign emanations and flavours, and transform them into 

 >oison. Who, in fact, is able to distinguish them, except those 

 vho dwell in the country, or the persons 31 that are in the habit 

 'f gathering them ? There are other circumstances, too, which, 

 ender them noxious ; if they grow near the hole of a serpent, 32 

 or instance, or if they should happen to have been breathed 

 ipon by one when just beginning to open ; being all the more 

 iisposed to imbibe the venom from their natural affinity to 

 )oisonous substances. 



It will therefore be as well to be on our guard during the 

 icason at which the serpents have not as yet retired to their 

 loles for the winter. The best sign to know this by is a mul- 

 itude of herbs, of trees, and of shrubs, which remain green 

 rom the time that these reptiles leave their holes till their re- 

 ,urn ; indeed, the ash alone will be quite sufficient for the 

 >urpose 7 the leaves of it never coming out after the serpents 

 lave made their appearance, or beginning to fall before they 

 lave retired to their holes. The entire existence of the mush- 

 oom, from its birth to its death, is never more than seven 

 lays. 33 



JHAP. 47. (23.) FUNGI; SIGNS BY WHICH THE VENOMOUS KINDS 



MAT BE RECOGNIZED : NINE REMEDIES. 

 Fungi are of a more humid nature than the last, and are di- 

 nded into numerous kinds, all of which are derived solely from 

 ;he pituitous humours 34 of trees. The safest are those, the 



30 " Clavus caligaris." A nail of a caliga, or military boot. See B. 

 rii. c. 44, and B. ix. c. 53. 



31 The peasants, Fee says, who are in the habit of gathering them, may 

 )robably be better trusted than the most learned authors that have written 

 >n the subject. He thinks it the best plan, however, to avoid all risks, 

 by confining ourselves to the use of the common field mushroom, the morel, 

 and one or two other well-known kinds. 



32 A prejudice entirely without foundation, Fee remarks. 



Fee says that from this it is evident that Pliny understands only the 

 stalk mushrooms under the name of " boleti ;" the fungi which adhere to 

 trees living more years, many of them, than Pliny mentions days. 



34 " Ex pituita " Fe thinks that under the name of " boleti," Pliny 

 means exclusively agarics or mushrooms of the division Amanites which 

 contains both the best and the most noxious kinds the oronge for in- 

 stance, and the false oronge. ... .. 



