THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



187 



of a fresh revelation. Were it possible for anyone to have lived surrounded 

 with the ordinary forms of vegetation and never have seen a fungus, he could 

 not have conceived anything so outre or unique. To the ordinary botanist 

 also they have the charm of coming most copiously into existence at the 

 period of the year when other plants are withering and fading, for it is in the 

 autumn months that they are most abundant, and although individually most 

 of them are very evanescent, yet the constant succession is so great that speci- 

 mens abound on every hand. In no department of the vegetable kingdom is 

 there more variety of shape, from the perfectly spherical puff-ball to the grace- 

 ful and elegant parasol mushroom and the stately fly-agaric. In colour they 

 vie with the animal and mineral worlds. In none of Flora's painted beauties 

 is there such depth and richness of colour as in the Russulas or Cortinarii. 

 The brilliancy of the metallic hues in various species rival the enamelling of 

 an insect's wing, and in its mutability the varying dyes of peacock or pigeon. 

 Another very striking peculiarity is the rapid change of colour of the flesh 

 and fluid of some species when cut or bruised. This is remarkably charac- 

 teristic of the large and handsome Boletus satanas, often found growing 

 under trees in pastures, the white flesh of which changes instantly to a most 

 brilliantly beautiful cobalt blue, when the cut surface is exposed to the air. 

 This forms a most interesting experiment to the young collector. Similarly, in 

 the Lactarius, or milk-bearing section, which are easily recognised by the plant 

 exuding a copious milky fluid when cut. In some species the juice remains 

 of a pure unalterable white, whilst in others it changes to a sulphur or bright 

 yellow colour. In external coating there is an endless variety, some being 

 smooth, soft, shining like silk or glistening as if varnished, or dry and bur- 

 nished like brass, whilst others are viscid and sticky as if covered with liquid 

 glue. Others again are rough with warty excresences, or shaggy with downy 

 coats, or fringes of hair. The textures are equally varied. Some are firm 

 and compact of a cheesy consistency, whilst others of equally robust appear- 

 ance are fragile and brittle, snapping like the thinnest of glassware. Some 

 are tough enough to make razor-strops, and rival wood or leather in dura- 

 bility, and others again are so delicate that the act of gathering destroys them; 

 real fairy emanations, which a breath, if not a look destroys. Some remain 

 for years in the herbarium, without any preparation and impervious to all 

 changes, whilst others deliquiesce and melt into a liquid watery mass almost 

 before one can carry them home. 



Nothing perhaps is more characteristic of the whole tribe than their 

 peculiar smell, which is recognised as a fungoid odour, associated with closed 

 vaults or damp dark cellars, where various members of the family love to 

 revel. So general is this characteristic, that to the outsider it is almost in- 



