[Oct, 1. 1865. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



225 



TOADSTOOLS. 





HERE, there, and everywhere are springing the 

 ubiquitous " Toadstools." Even the columns 

 of the Times have honoured the "Stinkhorn" by 

 permitting its appearance (in the gardens of asto- 

 nished suburbans) to be recorded side by side with 

 events in which kings and emperors were the heroes. 

 Starting with this rather absurd name, in so far as 

 its meaning is generally understood, it behoveth us 

 to suggest a better derivation and signification. 

 This we think it possible to do by transferring its 

 origin to the German ; how this may be affected by 

 Saxon, or Anglo-Saxon, we are not learned enough 

 in linguistic lore to determine. If instead of " Toad- 

 stool " we read " Todstuhl," and transfer from the 

 poor inoffensive reptile the odium, or honour, to the 

 great leveUer of all, " Tod," or " Death," we have 

 in the " stool of death " a much more appropriate 

 idea than the popular one delineated in our wood- 

 cut. Here we encounter another vulgar error — for 

 vulgar errors and prejudices are always numerous 

 enough with regard to things that are but little 

 understood, — and this regards all fungi as poisonous 

 or unfit for food, except a very favoured few (some- 

 what less than half a dozen), whilst in reality we 

 have fifty or sixty kinds found in Great Britain, such 

 as would bring tears of delight into the eyes of the 

 genuine epicure, if they were dressed and placed 

 before him. How often have we smiled at the 

 incredulous stare which greeted our announcement 

 that we intended to sup or breakfast on a gigantic 

 puff-ball ; and many a time have we been consoled 

 by an Irish friend that we might find ourselves dead 

 in bed some fine morning if we persisted in making 

 what would emphatically be our "last meal," on 

 such abominations as "Fairy-ring Champignons " or 

 *' Chautarelles." Yet, after all, we are by no means 

 hazardous, not like a friend who would eat almost 

 any kind, till he narrowly escaped being poisoned. 

 Our "toadstool "-eating propensities are always 

 restricted to species which have been M-ell tested, 



and are eaten by some people in some country or 

 other, and even many of such we have left untasted. 

 There is, however, one little infatuation to which we 

 must confess, — it is m favour of the great puff-ball. 

 In Norfolk they are called "Bulfers," and are 

 common there in harvest-time, as large as one's 

 head, and would afford a hearty meal for a dozen 

 people. These we always condemn to the frying- 

 pan whenever fortunate enough to secure them, and 

 such friends as have partaken this rehsh with us — a 

 number by no means small — have unanimously 

 resolved in the future to follow so excellent an 

 example. 



This season of the year is eminently prolific in all 

 the larger kinds of fungi ; microscopic species can 

 be met with at any time, but "toadstools" are the 

 privilege of autumn. Now and then we hear of 

 their upheaving pavements and hearthstones, but 

 such freaks are not common. In every wood, 

 meadow, or pasture ; along any green lane, about 

 rotten stumps, wherever there is sufiicient moisture 

 and decaying vegetable substances, they are sure to 

 be met with. Sometimes of a brilliant red, or a 

 golden yellow, a lurid green, a dusky grey, or of au 

 ivory whiteness. Occasionally changing, when 

 broken, from a whitish flesh to blue, or brown, or 

 yellow, or with a faint tinge of red. Some leathery, 

 tough, and dry; and others, whenever bruised, 

 exuding a milky fluid, not only white like milk, but 

 yellow, and in one instance changing to green. 

 If the colouring is varied, so also is the form. 

 Even restricting our observation to those which 

 have a stem surmounted by a cap, as in the common 

 mushroom, we shall notice some in which the stem 

 is delicate and fragile, scarcely seeming to possess 

 sufficient strength to support its head, whilst others 

 are so obese in their bodies that the cap seems too 

 small to cover them. Then the cap itself, now 

 conical, now flat, now spherical, and now funnel- 

 shaped, is as prolific in variety. If such a cap is 

 unceremoniously kicked off, another feature, hitherto 

 unseen, will greet the eye of the observer. Beneath 

 the " parasol " or pileus, as the more scientific 

 would term it, in many instances parallel plates or 

 gills will diverge fron the stem ; but these plates are 

 sometimes replaced by tubes glued together, so as 

 to resemble pores, and, in less common instances, 

 instead of tubes or pores, teeth or spines will clad 

 the whole under-surface. To the " toadstool " — we 

 suppose they are all "toadstools," for we hear no 

 other name— these are very important processes, for 

 they bear the seed of future generations. Whether 

 gills, or pores, or teeth, upon or about them are 

 clustered minute bodies, called the spores, which, 

 when ripened, fall upon the soil beneath, or are 

 scattered, and, in future days, originate another 

 batch of toadstools. If we will take the trouble to 

 gather one or two of these caps when fully expanded, 

 and place them with the under-surface downwards, 



