141 

 ON SOME EDIBLE FUNGI. 



BY M. C. COOKE, F.S.S. 



At this season of the year, when fungi are showing themselves 

 everywhere, and certain of them are present at the tables of the poor 

 as well as the rich, it may not he altogether out of place to call atten- 

 tion to a few of the species of this extraordinary tribe of plants, at the 

 same time so admired and so dreaded. Admired for the delieious flavour 

 of such as may he consumed as articles of food, and dreaded for the 

 poisonous properties of others, concerning which many a tale of terror has 

 been told. Without attempting to deny that there are species of fungi 

 deserving to be characterised as suspicious, and others which merit the 

 designation of " poisonous," I am yet disposed to think that we have been 

 frequently guilty of charging them with crimes of which they are inno- 

 cent, and of fostering prejudices to their and our mutual disadvantage, 

 "Without approaching the species that are known to be innocuous, hut- are 

 unassociated with evidence sufficiently strong in their favour to warrant 

 their recommendation as indiscriminate visitors at our tahles, there are 

 many which are allowed to rot away year by year, unregarded, except by 

 a favoured few, and which are equally, if not more, delicious than any 

 which ever appear in our markets. To a few of these the present paper 

 will be devoted. 



Whoever has read Dr Badham's ' Esculent Funguses of Britain,' will 

 not fail to recognise the following passage : " I have this autumn, myself, 

 witnessed whole hundredweights of rich wholesome diet rotting under 

 trees ; woods teeming with food, and not one hand to gather it ; and this, 

 perhaps, in the midst of potato blights, poverty, and all manner of priva- 

 tions, and public prayers against imminent famine. I have, indeed, 

 grieved when I have considered the straitened condition of the lower 

 orders this year, to see pounds innumerable of extempore beefsteaks 

 growing on our oaks in the shape of Fistulina hepatica ; Agaricus fusipes, 

 to pickle, in clusters under them ; puff-balls, which some of our friends 

 have not inaptly compared to sweet-bread, for the rich delicacy of their 

 unassisted flavour ; Hydna, as good as oysters, which they somewhat 

 resemble in taste ; Agaricus deliciosus, reminding us of tender lamb kidney ; 

 the beautiful yellow Chantarelle, that Kalon Kagoihon of diet, growing by 

 the bushel, and no basket but our own to pick up a few specimens in our 

 way ; the sweet nutty-flavoured Boletus, in vain calling himself edidis, where 

 there was none to believe him ; the dainty Orcella, the Agaricus hetero- 

 phyllus, which tastes like the craw-fish when grilled ; the red and green 

 species of Agaricus, to cook in any way, and equally good in all." If any 

 apology were needed for addressing the Technologist on the subject, this 

 would be ample. 



It would not, perhaps, have been altogether out of place to have pre- 



