132 
\ 
The two and twentieth Booke 
helpeth digeftion.Some hold opinion, That it is naught for women and hurtfull tothe eyes,alfo 
thatitiscontrarie to the feed of man anddoth hinder generation, ah a 
Among all thofe things which are eaten with daunger,I take thar Mufhromes may juftly bee 
raunged in the firft and principall place. Trueit is,that they have amoft pleafant and delicattaft, 
but difcredited much they areand brought into anill name; by occafionof the poyfon which 
Agrippina the Emprefleconveighed unto her husband Taberiss Claxd. us the Emperor,by their 
meanes: a daungerous prefident given for the like pra@tife afterwards.And verely by that fact of 
hers ,the fet on foot another poyion,to the mifcheefe of the whole world andher own bane efpe- 
cially (even her owne fonne Nevo,the Emperor, that wicked moniter.) The venomous qualitie of 
fome of thefe Muthromes,may bee foone knowne by theirweake rednefle,their mouldie hewfo 
unpleafant to fee to, their leaden and wan colour within-foorth, their chamfred ftreakesfull of 
chinkes and chaps,and finally,theit edges round about pale and yellow.For,others there be that 
have none 6f all thefe markes : but are drie, and carie certaine white {pots like to drops or grains 
of Sal-nitre, putting foorth in the top out of theirtunicles, Andin truth, before thatthe Mu- 
fhrome is formed; the earth bringeth forth a certain pellicle or coat firft, called in Latine Volva ; 
for this purpofe, thattheMufhrome fhould lie in it:and then afterwards thee engendreth it en- 
clofed within much like as the yolke of an egg couched within the white.And fo long asthe Mu- 
fhrome is young & notcome forth,butlieth as a babe within,the {aid core or tunicle isas good 
meat as the Muthrome it felfe: but fo foon as the Mufhrome is formed, this membrane breaketh, 
and incontinently the bodie or fubftance thereof is {pent in the {tele or foot that beareth it up: 
and {eldome fhall you fee two Mufhromes upon one of thefe fteles or feet. Morcover,thefe Mu- 
{hromes take their firft original and beginning of a flimie mud,and the humor of the earth that 
is in the way of corruption: orels of fome root of a tree,and fuch for the moft partas bear Maft.* 
It feemeth atthe firft,as if irwere akind of glutinous fome or froth : then it groweth to the fub- 
ftance of a pellicle or skin,and foone after {heweth the Muthrome indeed, bred, formed,andcon- 
fummiat within,as is beforefaid, And verely all fuch are pernicious and utterly co be rejected,near 
unto which when they come new out of the ground,there lay either a greive-ftud or leg haineis- 
naile, or fome zuftie yron,or fo much as an old rotten clout: for looke what naughtinefle foever 
was in any of them,the fame they draw and convert into venome and poyfon, Bat none are able 
to difcerne thefe hurtfull Mufhromes from others,how curious and circum{pect foever they bee, 
fave onely the peafants of the country where they grow,and fuch as have the gathering ofthem, 
And here is not all the mifcheefe that lieth in them ; For dangerous they be otherwife,and meet 
with more meanes tomakethem deadly, namely,if a ferpents hole or neft be neéare by:or if at 
their firft difcoy erie and comming forth, a ferpent chance to breath and blow upon them : for fo 
prepared they be and d:{pofed as a fit fubject,to enter, that prefently they will catch and entertain 
any poyfon.And therefore on any hand we muft not be bold & luitie with them before the time 
that ferpents be retired into the ground,and there taken up their harbor. Which is an eafie mat- 
terto know,by the tokens of fo many hearbes,trees,& fhrubs,which from the time that they firft 
come abroad above ground, untill they have taken up their Winter lodging againe, looke al- 
waies frefh and greene: and principally by the leaves of the Ath, alone, if there were no more 
trees:for Afhes neither bud and {pring forth, but after that ferpents come abroad;nor fhed and 
fall away, before they be gone into the ground ugaine.In fum,this wouldbee noted, That Muth- 
romesbeup and down,come and gone,alwaiesin a feven-night {pace. Thus much of the Mufh- 
rotnes named in Latine Boleti. ; 
Cua Po XX | 
& Of other Mufbromes or Tad-floles called Fungi. Of Silpbium, and Lafer. 
Stouching thofé excreffences in manner of Mufhromes,which be named Fungi,they are 
6 | 
JX by nature more dull and flow. And albeit there bee many kinds of them, yet they all fake 
their beginning of nothing elsbut the flimie humor of trees. The fafeft and leaft daunge- 
rous be thofe,which have a red callofitie or outward skin, and the fame not of fo weake a ted,as 
thatof the Mufhromes called Boleti, Next to them in goodneffe are the white, and fuch as ha- 
ving awhite foot alfo, beare a head much refembling the Flamins tuibant or mitre, with atuffer 
or cteftin the crowne. As for the third fort which be called Suilli,as one would fay,Swine-Mufh- _ 
romes 
M. 
