SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



251 



A NEW BRITISH FISH. 



A yTESSRS. Holt and Calderwood describe, in 

 i *-'- Mr. Ernest W. L. Holt's report on his 

 North Sea Investigations, continued in the last 

 number of the "Journal of the Marine Biological 

 Association of the United Kingdom" (New Series, 

 vol. iii., No. 3), a new ray under the name of 

 " the Blonde," and scientifically as Raia blanda. 



This species, which is new to science, was first 

 met with on the west coast of Ireland as large 

 specimens, but more recently a nearly complete 

 series was obtained from the North Sea. It has 

 hitherto been overlooked among the spotted rays 

 (R. maculata of Montagu), to which it is closely 

 allied. Raia blanda appears to be a distinct species 

 differing from R. maculata in several points. We 

 quote from Holt and Calderwood's summary 

 following the diagnosis: "The difference in 

 spinulation is very strongly marked, since R. 

 maculata never attains anything like the same 

 development of the asperities of the upper surface, 

 as is present in R. blanda. The anterior border 

 of asperities on the under surface is also entirely 

 wanting in R. maculata ; the greatest degree 

 of ventral spinulation attained by that species 

 throughout life taking the form of a few scattered 

 asperities on the snout, about the pectoral 

 region, and on the tail. Moreover, the maximum 

 width attained by R. maculata hardly exceeds 

 twenty inches, and its egg purse only measures 

 about two and a half inches exclusive of attachment 

 processes (R. blanda exceeds a width of over thirty 

 inches, and egg purse five and a half inches). 

 Though the size of the spots on the upper surface 

 is subject to variation, they are always larger and 

 more numerous than in R . blanda of the same size and 

 never extend to the margins of the disc. In some 

 examples they are altogether absent. There may, 

 or may not, be a single conspicuous ocellus on each 

 wing, but if present it is always surrounded by a 

 ring of largish spots, which are frequently more or 

 less coalesced." 



The figure of R. maculata in Day's " British 

 Fishes," say these gentlemen, "is undoubtedly 

 taken from an immature male of R. blanda," while 

 Crouch, in his work, " evidently selected a specimen 

 of R. blanda for special description, but his general 

 remarks apply to both species, and his figure to 

 neither, though probably taken, at least so far as 

 the spots are concerned, from R. maculata." 



It is pointed out that " if our ichthyologists have 

 hitherto failed to distinguish between R. maculata 

 and 7?. blanda, the same reproach cannot be urged 

 against our fishermen and fish merchants. Under 

 the names of homelyn and blonde, or blund, 

 respectively, these two species have long been recog- 

 nised as distinct at Grimsby. The name ' blonde' 

 is said to be derived from the Belgian fishermen." 



EDIBLE FUNGI IN SURREY. 



By Charles A. Briggs, F.E.S. 



TipRECjUENTLY on singing the praises of fungi 

 *■ as food, I am met with the question, "do they 

 taste like real mushrooms ? " and I find that many, 

 or I might say most, people seem quite unable to 

 grasp the idea that almost each fungus has its own 

 distinctive flavour, which one can no more contrast 

 with that of Agaricus campestris than one can 

 describe the flavour of beef by reference to that of 

 mutton, or of veal by lamb, or soles by salmon. 

 Each is good but all are different, many are 

 superior to campestris. 



Dr. Badham, the father of British Mycophagists, 

 in the introduction to his "Esculent Fungi of 

 England," says : " No country is perhaps richer in 

 esculent fungi than our own ; ... no markets 

 might be better supplied than the English, and yet 

 England is the only country in Europe where this 

 important and savoury food is, from ignorance or 

 prejudice, left to perish ungathered." 



These words are nearly as true now as when 

 Dr. Badham wrote them in 1847, for although 

 enthusiasts here and there venture to try these 

 luxuries and revel in the result ; yet in the British 

 population as a whole, prejudice and ignorance are 

 as rampant now as then, and tons upon tons of 

 delicious and wholesome food are each year wasted 

 in every county. 



Occasionally hunger or curiosity induces an 

 experiment, only too frequently followed by the 

 coroner's melancholy task. Surely instruction in 

 this knowledge as in that of all other useful or 

 poisonous plants should be given in all our village 

 schools. There must in every district be some one 

 — clergyman, doctor or teacher — with sufficient 

 botanical knowledge to enable them to point out 

 the distinctive characters of at all events the larger 

 edible species, and the knowledge thus imparted 

 would spread and spread until this blot upon our 

 national thrift was removed. 



It is with a view of rousing this class with whom 

 it is a matter of prejudice rather than ignorance that 

 I add a few notes of species eaten and enjoyed not 

 by myself alone but by our whole household during 

 the present year. 



(1) Agaricus campestris, the common mushroom, 

 and (2) Agaricus arvcnsis, the horse mushroom, need 

 no comment, they are frequently confused, but the 

 latter may always be known by its turning yellow 

 when bruised. 



(3) Agaricus gambosus — the white St. George's 

 mushroom, one of the earliest to appear and one of 

 the nicest. The flavour is nutty and the flesh very 

 firm and almost crisp in its shortness. 



(4) Agaricus rubescens — the well-known "warty 

 cap," so called from the little rough patches on the 



