46 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



around the stem, but this soon disappears. It seems 

 impossible for any person, in full possession of their 

 senses, to confound this with any other known species, 

 or if so, with one closely related to it, and equally 

 harmless. We have many a time and oft been 

 cautioned by the natives whilst collecting these fungi 

 that they were only "nasty toadstools," and some 

 have gone so far as to declare them ""rank p'ison," 

 although, in point of fact, they are far more uni- 

 versally wholesome than the ordinary mushroom, 

 and have never been known to cause the slightest 

 inconvenience. 



For cooking purposes these fungi should be 

 gathered before the gills turn black, although when 

 quite black they may be converted into good " cat- 

 sup." The caps being so commonly sandy, or 

 sprinkled with fragments of soil, should be washed 

 and then wiped dry, which process will remove most 

 of the scaly threads. The cuticle will not peel off as 

 in the mushroom. In flavour, when cooked in any 

 way, it much resembles the mushroom, to which it is 

 quite equal, if not superior. In one particular it 

 possesses an advantage, since it is clearly more 

 digestible, and less likely to disagree with persons of 

 delicate constitutions. The old caution should not 

 need repetition — always to cook all fungi as soon as 

 possible after they are gathered, for then they are in 

 their greatest perfection. Amongst the rural popula- 

 tion there is a strong prejudice against this species 



