FUNGI AND LICHENS. 



107 



in its concentrated form, but when diluted or diffused 

 it is much less unpleasant; indeed, we have heard it 

 maintained that the odour is agreeable, having some- 

 what that of violets when inhaled at a distance from 

 the centre of diffusion. 



Amongst the grass and leaves, beside the narrow 

 paths leading through damp mixed woods, one of the 

 common fungi is the Chantarelle. 1 It grows on the 

 ground as the mushroom does, but is of a bright 

 orange-yellow colour, like the yolk of an egg. In 

 height it does not exceed two or three inches, and 

 about the same in breadth, but the cap is depressed in 

 the centre, and concave instead of convex, and the 

 margin is lobed, twisted, and contorted, never being 

 so round and regular as in the mushroom. Under- 

 neath the cap broad veins run upwards from the 

 stem, in place of the flat gills 

 of the mushroom. In most 

 European countries this bright- 

 ly-coloured fungus is cooked 

 and eaten ; some writers have 

 been enthusiastic in its praise, 

 whilst others deprecate its 

 toughness; at the best it seems 

 to us to be a poor substitute 

 for the genuine mushroom, but 

 it has a most attractive appear- 

 ance, and should be better 

 known. 



In company with this last, or in similar situations. 



THE CHANTARELLE. 



: Cantharellus cibarius. 



