186 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



u sheiling" ? It is curious to hear the reasons given for this antipathy. In 

 some cases it is an honest dread of untoward results from eating noxious 

 species. More frequently it is a contempt for such nauseous messes — 

 " swine's food." Often it is a tinge of British insular pride, an idea that 

 such fare is only fit for the devourers of " snails " and " paddocks/' the 

 vernacular c< puddock-stools " being associated in their minds with that much 

 maligned amphibian. It is surprising how chary even those epicures, who 

 are fond of the common mushroom, are of experimenting upon other even 

 more delectable kinds. Having in recent years submitted over 20 distinct 

 species to the test of the table, although with fear and trembling on the part 

 of my household, but with no other bad results, I have not yet made many 

 converts to fungophagy. 



Ketchup is a favourite condiment with gastronomic connoisseurs, and yet 

 a deal of faith has to be exercised by those who use it, for if one was to see 

 the multifarious mixture of species gathered without the slightest botanic- 

 knowledge, and used up in its manufacture, it would impress the fact that 

 poisonous kinds cannot be so common or so virulent after all. No one 

 would advocate the indiscriminate use of all sorts that are to be met with, but 

 handbooks on the science are now so cheap and accessible, that any one who 

 can recognise the common mushroom, may easily learn to distinguish the most 

 generally distributed edible species. I here can scarcely be said to exist any 

 safe, sure, and simple rules which include all the harmless, whilst excluding 

 all the poisonous species, but generally speaking all those with bright colours, 

 or the flesh of which changes colour on being bruised or cut, and which have 

 an acrid or pungent taste, should be avoided by the tyro till he has learned 

 confidence in his own powers of discrimination. 



One notable exception may be mentioned, as there is no possibility of mis- 

 taking it for any other, and the collector who finds it has a prize. It is the 

 beef-steak fungus [Fistulina hepatica), which grows in autumn on tree trunks 

 (chiefly oak), sometimes attaining a large size, weighing several pounds. It 

 is of a rich dark crimson colour, and its shape resembles the lobes of the 

 liver, which it also closely approaches in texture and consistency as it matures. 

 When cut, its marbled flesh, veined like beetroot, exudes a fluid like blood. 

 When fried it rivals a beefsteak, and forms no despicable substitute for it, to 

 the keen appetite of an appreciative botanist. Unfortunately, it is rather 

 rare. 



But apart from their economic value, to the student or lover of nature, the 

 fungi ought to have a special attraction. In their general structure, mode of 

 growth, and reproduction, they are so diverse from the higher organised 

 plants in the scale of nature that the study of them comes with all the charm 



