302 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



the country I could maintain a regiment of soldiers 

 £ve months in the year upon mushrooms alone." A 

 statement which doubtless will appear extravagant to 

 those who have been accustomed to consider the one 

 common "mushroom" as the only esculent among 

 the fungi. 



As already mentioned previously in my pages, the 



fungus affords a perfect substitute, chemically and 



gastronomically, for animal food. The 



Nutritious analysis of its substance is almost iden- 



properties tical with that of meat, being especially 

 rich in nitrogenous elements, while its 

 flavor and aroma and texture, as served for the table, 

 occasionally so closely imitate that of flesh food as 

 to be actually deceptive. Even in its raw state it 

 would occasionally seem to suggest the same animal 

 similarity. As an illustration, I recall the following 

 striking instance of gastronomic discrimination in a 

 carnivorous appetite, as exemplified in a full-grown 

 pet hawk which I had tethered near my country 

 studio. 



One day, returning from a toadstool hunt, she ob- 

 served me approaching with a basketful of mush- 

 rooms. They were mostly of the fleshy 



^, , ■^ ^. Boleti species. Supposing: that I was 

 discriminating , '^ '^'^^ o 



hawlc brmgmg her food, she became very de- 

 monstrative in her actions, eying me 

 most eagerly, and uttering that peculiar low squeal 

 which seemed to emanate from the region of her 

 appetite. As she approached me, thinking to satisfy 

 her that the basket contained nothing suitable for 

 hawk-food, I tossed her one of the largest of the 



