J9 6 ABOUT FUNGI. [CHAP. 



where, depositing themselves everywhere, and vege- 

 tating wherever the conditions are favourable to their 

 development" (Cooke). 



Mr. Worthington Smith tells us : " It is hardly 

 necessary to specify localities, because fungi abound 

 everywhere. If leaf fungi are sought for, hedge-sides 

 will produce an abundant crop; if the Agaricini and 

 Polyporei, forests and woods must be ransacked ; if 

 the edible species are wanted, rich open pastures 

 (with few exceptions) must be traversed : the various 

 species of truffles must be looked for principally in 

 leafy glades many prefer a calcareous subsoil, but 

 at times they may be met with even in hedge-sides, 

 town park?, or elsewhere." 



When collected they should be placed in a current 

 of dry air for some hours (six to- twelve or twenty- 

 four, according to size and degree of hardness), so 

 that all superfluous moisture may be got rid of. If 

 the weather be dry such a current may be obtained 

 by raising the window-sash an inch or two, and 

 placing the fungi close to it. They must then be 

 treated in the same manner as ferns and flowering- 

 plants, gently pressed between sheets of drying 

 paper until they are ready to be placed in the herba- 

 rium. But the collector should be careful not to leave 

 his harvest in any damp atmosphere for a night, for 

 in all probability he would next morning find that 

 many of them had actually melted away, leaving only 

 a dirty patch and a few black shreds to mark where 

 they had been. 



But our space is getting exhausted ; there is much 

 we might add to what . we w have written, but our object 



