252 



SCIEXCE-GOSSIP. 



pileus or skin, has a rich full taste making it a 

 most welcome adjunct to the breakfast-table. 



(5) Agaricus vaginatus — easily distinguished from 

 rubescens by the stem growing out of a sheath ; is 

 equally good and perhaps slightly more delicate in 

 flavour. 



(6) Agaricus prunulus var. orcella is delicious in 

 taste, very silky and delicate. 



(7) Agaricus personaius — the well-known " blewit," 

 par excellence the mushroom of late autumn, also 

 affords a tasty dish, and, lasting as it does until 

 really hard frosts set in. affords an excuse for many 

 a winter's ramble. Our last large dish was cut on 

 December nth, and the species is still about. 



(8) Agaricus nudus — the blue-cap, another of the 

 autumn "blewits," is equally good, but not so 

 common in this district. 



(9) Boletus lutens — so abundant in the fir woods ; 

 is good, but the flavour is rather coarser than that 

 of Agaricus. Possibly, as on the continent, it should 

 be eaten dried. 



All the above species may be cooked either in a 

 frying pan, or baked in one of the common enamelled 

 iron dishes now so much used, another dish being 

 inverted over it all the time of cooking, and not 

 lifted or removed until the dish is placed on the 

 table, so as to retain all the flavour and aroma. 



(10) Lycoperdon plumbeum, and (n) L. bovista — 

 our common puff-balls, gathered young and eaten 

 very fresh, are delicious when cut in slices, dipped 

 in egg and crumbs, and fried. 



(12) Morchella esculenta — so highly prized (and 

 when dried so highly priced!) are most delicious 

 when stewed in a good gravy. 



(13) Sparassis crispa — frequently making a growth 

 as large as a man's head, and sometimes so large 

 that two men can scarcely earn- it, is as good as 

 the morel, which it greatly resembles in flavour ; 

 unfortunately it is rare. 



(14) Fistulina hepatica — the beef-steak fungus, 

 growing to a large size on the stems of oak trees, is 

 said to be very good. To my own taste they 

 extract such a flavour of tan from their host, that I 

 cannot praise them. I have been told that, unlike 

 all other fungi, they should not be eaten young. 

 Perhaps tannin is confined to youth. 



The above are all large species easily recognized, 

 but many of the small ones are equally if not more 

 palatable. Thus the chantarelle and the champignon 

 have a universal reputation, while the genus 

 Clavaria — the " fairy fingers " of the children — and 

 the shaggy caps (Coprinus) are excellent ; but in 

 these smaller species, mistakes are more likely to 

 occur and greater care should be used. 



This district is no doubt a most prolific one for 

 fungi. We have chalk downs, fertile valleys, 

 commons, extensive old woodlands and large 

 tracts of fir woods, so rich in Boleti. But in every 

 district some, at least, of the species I have -named 

 after Agaricus arvensis could be found and utilised. 

 When will our insular prejudices cease and our 

 people take a lesson from their continental neigh- 

 bours ? 



Leatherhead, Surrey ; December 17th, 1894 



A New Hepatic. — Cephalozia hibernica. Spruce, 

 MSS., is described and figured on a full plate in the 

 " Irish Naturalist " for December. This addition 

 to our cryptogamic flora was found by Dr. David 

 Moore, at Killarney as long ago as 1865, and again 

 by Reginald W. Scully in 1889. The article is by 

 Mr. W. H. Pearson. 



W COUNTRY LORE M 





The Coming of Winter. — Up here among the 

 Welsh hills, winter comes early. The starlings 

 generally collect in flocks about September, and in 

 the evenings fly to their common resting place in the 

 spinney. A few short stories, a brief exhortation 

 by one of the elders, and they haste to sleep, that 

 their dreams of fat slugs may be sweet and many, 

 through the long silent night. The robins come in 

 twos and threes to my garden, not so tame as in the 

 depth of winter, when the snow lies between them 

 and the lob-worms they so much adore, but just 

 sufficient!}" careful to remind one that they 

 are to be considered neighbours henceforward till, 

 with the coming of the Spring, their parental 

 instincts once more shall prompt them to move to 

 the hedgerows, and there bring up their callow 

 young. My ants — -bus}- little folks that have been 

 rapidly multiplying among the chambers of their 

 hill, and storing up winter supplies of sweet things 

 — are now getting drowsy after their summer toils, 

 and will soon go to their sleep beneath the frosty 

 surface of the earth. Their underground galleries 

 occupy the sheltered side of my garden, just where 

 the morning sun first greets the flowers, among 

 which, in the more active hours of summer, the 

 little creatures wander as we ourselves would stroll 

 down shady lanes. A hopeful family of short- 

 tailed field-mice, which I have discovered in a 

 warm nest near the foot of a furze bush that 

 occupies the corner of a neighbour's field, have all 

 removed to winter quarters in the hayrick 

 and are now safely housed, together with 

 the friends of last year's company. Under 

 the evergreens the hives have all been stacked 

 and made snug, so that they appear almost 

 like models of rustic cottages. There the com- 

 munity is at rest. The drones, indeed, have all 

 perished or been slain by the workers. They are 

 too expensive to keep on hand in times of scarce 

 provision. At noon a single sentinel may be seen 

 at the narrow portal, keeping guard lest snail or 

 wears- caterpillar should seek an entrance from the 

 cold north wind. The spiders are not now so 

 industrious as when flies and small beetles were 

 more plentiful. On a particularly warm morning 

 one may still see their strands hanging across the 

 path, or from branch to branch of the rose bush. 

 If you are keen sighted, and the rays of the sun are 

 favourable, you may also see other members of the 

 spider family float by, supported by long filaments 

 which they have spun to bear them, as parachutes, 

 to unexplored regions. Sad, indeed, would be the 

 end of these " Baldwins " were our friend the robin 

 to get them within the focus of his bright optics. 

 The salmon have come up from the sea to the 

 further reaches of the Tivey, and are busily forming 

 " buries." With their snouts in the river bed, they 

 make furrows in which to deposit their spawn, 

 afterwards covering it with fine gravel ; but the 

 trout are very fond of salmon spawn, and make 

 frequent risks to the " buries," to feast on the rich 

 ova. Later on the eggs wnll hatch, and the young 

 salmon, which are called " peel," will roam about 



