FUNGUS HUNTING. 219 



as well as in cooking, applicable to the different 

 kinds individually. It goes without saying that 

 some localities will be superior to others in their 

 facilities for obtaining the raw material, but the 

 worst localities will furnish a better result if worked 

 in a systematic manner, and as the edible fungi 

 under consideration are wild and spontaneous plants, 

 dependent not only upon terrestrial but also atmo- 

 spherical conditions, much time will be wasted, and 

 disappointment caused, if only a hap-hazard kind of 

 fungus hunting is resorted to. For instance, it will 

 be useless to make an excursion in the early summer 

 in the hope of finding kinds which do not make their 

 appearance until autumn, and it will be equally un- 

 availing to scour the woods in June for particular 

 species, such as the fairy ring champignon, which 

 does not grow in woods at all, but on open heaths, 

 lawns, parks, and pastures. In all such matters there 

 is no better guide than experience, but in default of 

 experience, and to assist in its acquisition, a little 

 may be communicated under the head of general 

 instructions. 



Some excellent suggestions were made by Dr Bull 

 in a volume of the Woolhope Transactions as to the 

 period of the year in which the various edible fungi 

 prevail. He writes — "In the end of April, or the 

 beginning of May, the fungus season begins with the 

 appearance of the true St George's mushroom (Agaricus 

 gambosus) growing in fairy rings, in pastures. These 



