392 FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. 
quantities in Paris, where its flavour is far superior 
to ours. All the specimens that appear in the 
market are reared in the catacombs. By some 
European nations the edible species are eaten raw 
and uncooked, as they are considered to be more 
palatable and nutritious in their natural state. 
Schwaegrichen informs us, that in consequence of 
seeing the peasants about Nuremberg eating raw 
mushrooms, seasoned with anise and carraway- 
seed, along with their black bread, he resolved to 
try their effect himself, and that during several 
weeks he ate nothing but bread and raw fungi, as 
Boletus edulis, Agaricus campestris, Agaricus pro- 
cerus, etc., and drank nothing but water, when, in- 
stead of finding his health affected, he rather ex- 
perienced an increase of strength. During the 
latter part of the American war, when meat was 
scarce and dear, fungi, which grow in immense 
profusion and variety in America, formed the 
ptincipal food of the Southern army. Many 
species of fungi have been used for food from 
time immemorial in China, whose thrifty inhabi- 
tants make the most of the productions of their 
native soil, and easily find substitutes among cel- 
lular plants when their usual food fails them in a 
season of famine. In India and Africa, likewise, 
the few edible species that occur have always been 
highly esteemed ; our common ketchup, it may be 
