I 54 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



parts of the country the rural population appear to 

 have no name and no knowledge of these fungi, and 

 yet they are about the safest and most delicious of 

 the entire tribe. 



There are two other, much larger, but we fear 

 much rarer species, which deserve a place in this 

 enumeration. The one species is the great morel 

 {Morchella gigas) which has often a stem six inches 

 long and two to three inches thick. The cap is also 

 rather conical, free at the edge, and half-way up, two 

 or three inches high and broad. It resembles a 

 gigantic form of the last species, but differs from it 

 not only in size, but also in the scaly stem. It has 

 only been found a few times in this country. 



The other, and last, species is Smith's morel (Mor- 

 chella Smithiand) which was at first mistaken for the 

 giant morel or the thick-stemmed morel, and so called 

 when figured in the Journal of Botany. The cap is 

 subglobose, tawny, and with deep large pits, the base 

 continuous with the stem. It reaches to a foot in 

 height and seven inches in diameter, with a robust 

 stem. Several instances are known of its occurrence 

 in this country and a single specimen is quite 

 sufficient for a substantial meal. It is remarkable 

 how very persistently a certain class of people, pre- 

 sumably with toes more active than their brains, make 

 war upon unknown fungi, kicking them in pieces, 

 without thought or reason, whenever met with. On 

 one occasion the remains of a splendid specimen of 



