300 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



inaptly compared to sweetbreads for delicacy of their 



unassisted flavor ; Hydna, as good as oysters, which 



they somewhat resemble in taste; ^gar- 



^t*^ . icus deliciosus, reminding us of tender 

 comprehensive , , , . , , i -r i i, 



fungus lamb kidneys ; the beautiful yellow 

 Chantarelle, that kalon kaigothon of diet, 

 growing by the bushel, and no basket but our own 

 to pick up a few specimens on our way ; the sweet, 

 nutty-flavored Boletus, in vain calling himself ' edulis ' 

 where there was none to believe him ; the dainty 

 Orcella; the Agaricus heterophyllus, which tastes like 

 a crawfish when grilled ; the Agaricus ruber, and 

 Agaricus virescens, to cook in any way and equally 

 good in all — these are the most conspicuous of the 

 irouvailles." 



His remarks applied to Great Britain, and reflected 

 a popular disdain of fungi, which presented a marked 

 contrast to the appreciation of the 

 A reliable mushroom of the Continent, where the 

 cop fungus had become the much -sought 



bonne bouche of the epicure, and the wel- 

 come reliance of the peasant poor, to whom it afforded 

 a perfect substitute for the desideratum of animal 

 food commonly denied them by their circumstances. 



This plea of Dr. Badham's is even more pointedly 

 pertinent to the America of the present than it was 

 for his own country at the time ; for 

 The fungus while, in Great Britain, the mycophagist 

 specialist epicure was even then occasionally to 

 be met with, in America to-day this par- 

 ticular gastronomic specialist is locally conspicuous, or 

 rather notorious, from his very rarity, being popularly 



