Notes on Fungi. 45 



the cases differ in many respects. In a marine tank which has 

 been in operation four years, and is scarcely ever touched or 

 disturbed in any way, I have some British mollusks that were 

 introduced in the first instance, still in perfect health. During 

 the very hot weather of the past summer I lost two or three 

 periwinkles, but I have still several of the periwinkles living, 

 after four years' residence in the vessel, and during the whole 

 of that time there has been no vegetation except such als is 

 strictly microscopic. 



NOTES ON FUNGI.— No. I. 



BY THE EEV. M. J. BEEKELEY, M.A., E.E.S. 



A eew years since there were scarcely half a dozen persons 

 who made Fungi an object of study, or who were at all aware 

 of their importance in the economy of nature. At present, 

 thauks to the popular work of Dr. Badham, and to more scien- 

 tific helps which were previously unattainable in our own 

 language, there is a growing desire to become more intimately 

 acquainted with them, a desire which is checked only by the 

 extreme difficulty of the study, especially of that more impor- 

 tant division Agaricini, which comprises a great part of the 

 species which are used for food, or respecting which a mistake 

 may lead to fatal results. 



Every accident, however, which arises from the use of 

 dangerous fungi is not attributable to ignorance. Peculiarity 

 of constitution, or, as it is called in the language which is fre- 

 quently so annoying to judges in the course of trials where 

 medical evidence is necessary, idiosyncracy, has a great deal to 

 do with it. The incompatibility of every kind of shell-fish 

 with some constitutions is notorious ; and I know an instance 

 where the smallest quantity of egg acts as a pernicious fer- 

 ment, inducing a variety of unhappy consequences. This, 

 however, is not all. The cases of death or illness from fungi 

 mostly arise among the poorer classes; and it is not wonderful 

 if, after a hard day's labour, when a pound or more of coarsely 

 dressed mushrooms is consumed without due mastication, a 

 severe fit of colic or dysentery should take place. Where the 

 esculent Agarics are consumed in moderation and eaten with a 

 proper quantity of bread, I believe that they are perfectly 

 wholesome, as Wildenow found them when living on them 

 for weeks to the exclusion of other food, except the coarse 

 German bread. 



