xrn.j ABOUT FUNGI. 189 



as their structure, are not wanting in rich and delicate 

 tints, so that the colour-student would find much to 

 charm him, and good practice for his pencil in these 

 much despised examples of low life" (Cooke). 



But the reader may fancy it is not enjoyable work 

 hunting for fungi in autumn when the woods are 

 damp. Hear what Mr. Worthington G. Smith, F.L.S., 

 has to say upon that point : " The study of the larger 

 fungi has been to me one of the greatest pleasures of 

 my life: when all things else have failed, this has 

 never failed ; it has taken me into the pleasantest of 

 places and amongst the best of people. Had it not 

 been for fungi, I should have been dead years ago ; 

 often tired, jaded, and harassed with business matters, 

 a stroll in the rich autumn woods has given me a 

 new lease of life. In these favourite haunts I never 

 tire or flag ; rain, fog, and mud never detract from 

 the pleasure of the woods to me, I am only de- 

 pressed in the hot, dry weather of midsummer. In 

 the autumn I constantly visit the forests, with all my 

 collecting paraphernalia; I sometimes take a saw to 

 cut off the big, woody, fungous excrescences of trees. 

 I was once fortunate enough to find a ladder in a 

 wood, which proved invaluable for ascending the 

 beeches in search of Agaricus mucidns, &c. I, how- 

 ever, find fungi everywhere : I only go round the 

 corner, and there they are. I often visit a neighbour- 

 ing builder's yard, and descend the sawpits, to the 

 amazement of the operatives : some of the rarest 

 species of our flora, and many new ones, I have 

 found within a few minutes' walk of my own house. 

 I once found a rare Lentinus on a log as it was being 



