EDIBLE FUNGI. 153 



tasted for the first time, was iiot declared to be delicious, 

 or the best thing ever put in the mouth. This latter 

 phrase was once used in reference to so indifferent an 

 article as A. suiignus. Indeed, I have found several per- 

 sons who class this amongst the most palatable species. 

 To such persons a dish of fresh mushrooms need seldom 

 be wanting, as this one can be had every month of the 

 year in this latitude. I am induced to believe that the 

 quality of this species varies with the kind of wood it 

 grows from, and that it is better flavoured when gathered 

 from the mulberry, and especially from the hickory, than 

 when taken from most other trees. Its fitness for the 

 table seems also to depend much upon the rapidity of its 

 growth ; those which grow slowly, as is the case with 

 some of our garden vegetables, being of tougher texture 

 and of less delicate flavour. A warm sun after heavy 

 rains brings them ou^ in greatest perfection. 



" I have several times been asked by persons eating 

 mushrooms for the first time, whether these things belong 

 to the vegetable or animal kingdom. There is certainly 

 a very noticeable resemblance in the flavour of some of 

 them to that of flesh, fish, or mollusc, so that the question, 

 as founded merely on taste, is not an unnatural one. But 

 I was much struck with its propriety when reading an 

 article in ' Eraser's Magazine/ a few years since, written 

 by the late Mr. Broderip, who therein says that mush- 

 rooms contain osmazorne. If this be so, it accounts 



