EDIBLE FUNGI. 55 



of November, our readers may test his verdict tf firm, 

 juicy, sapid, and nutritious." 



Agarlcus oreades, the champignon, or fairy-ring mush- 

 room, is much to be commended for two reasons, the 

 facility with which it is dried, and its very extensive 

 dissemination. Moreover, a three days' exposure to 

 the air dries it ; and in this state it may be kept for 

 years without losing any of its aroma or goodness. In 

 the French a la mode beef- shops in London it is used 

 with the view of heightening the flavour of that dish ; 

 and it is famous for the flavour it imparts to rich soups 

 and gravies. 



Cantharellus avarius. Battara, in his * Fungorum 

 Historia/ confesses that some think it pernicious ; but 

 he depones that he has eaten it greedily, and insists 

 that, made into soup, it will revive the dead ! " The 

 very existence of such a fungus at home is confined to 

 the freemasons, who keep the secret ! Having collected 

 a quantity at Tunbridge Wells, and given them to the 

 cook at the Calverley Hotel to dress, I learned from the 

 waiter that they were not novelties to him ; that, in 

 fact, he had been in the habit of dressing them for 

 years, on state occasions, at the Freemasons' Tavern. 

 They were generally, he said, fetched from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Chelmsford, and were always well paid for. 

 Of the cantharellus, this summer, the supplies were im- 

 mense." (Badham.) Morchella esculenta, or the morel, 

 is the expensive luxury which the rich procure at great 

 cost from the Italian warehouses, and the poor are fain 

 to do without. And yet it is not infrequent in our 

 orchards and woods during the beginning of summer. 

 Koques reports favourably of some specimens sent to him 

 by the Duke of Athole ; and others from different parts of 

 the country occasionally find their way to Covent Garden. 

 Fistulina hepatica, " the poor man's fungus," as 

 Schoeffer calls it, deserves, indeed, the epithet, if we 

 look to its abundance and its enormous size, Badham 

 having picked a specimen weighing 8 Ib. But it 



