84 
MUSHROOMS AND TOADSTOOLS. 
that we have only to discover, or estimate, the number of poisonous 
or edible species in a total of 680, of which we know 134 to be 
good eating. The balance of 550 species is apparently a very 
considerable one for uncertainty, and it would be very satisfactory 
if it could be reduced. 
To our minds the 125 species of Cortinarius might be set aside 
as not decidedly poisonous, but not common enough to be of any 
general interest. Then about 30 large species of the Hyporrhodii 
are not accounted for. We have such a lurking suspicion of this 
section, that we had rather believe them noxious than make any 
attempt to eat them. On the other hand there are 27 Hygrophori , 
and at least 50 Leucospori , which we could believe in so much as 
not to decline to test them ; most probably fifty of these would be 
agreeable eating even if 27 were simply innocuous. After all it 
seems most probable that we have 200 species of Agaricini which 
could be eaten with impunity. No one cares to experiment at all 
freely with treacherous material, but having regard to affinities, to 
analogous odour and absence of acridity in the raw state, it seems 
highly probable that the number might, without risk, be increased 
to some 200 species of British edible fungi. Many that are not 
included in our definite list of 134 species have been tried by our- 
selves and found harmless, but we desire to try them again before 
recommending them to others. We shall be glad of any sugges- 
tions of species not already included in our list when it is 
published. 
SPORE DIFFUSION IN PHALLOIDEI. 
An interesting discussion has been proceeding for some weeks 
in the pages of “Nature ” on “ Attractive Characters in Fungi.” 
It is not our intention in this place to intervene in that discussion, 
but to follow a suggestion tending in another direction. It is to 
be noted that the old assumption is not dead, that the spores of 
fungi do not germinate direct, but must previously serve a proba- 
tion in the stomach of some animal, where they undergo some 
change which induces fertility. There was a period, undoubtedly, 
when many persons held this belief, and some hold to it still, 
simply because it has been held, and not from any evidence. As 
far as we are aware there never has been any evidence for this 
belief, beyond a mere assumption, and that only in respect to the 
common mushroom. It was observed that horse droppings, packed 
together, yielded spawn, which, under favourable conditions, 
produced mushrooms. The inference was that the horse had 
devoured the mushrooms in order to give the spores a warm lodg- 
ment in its intestines, and ensure germination. Hence, that the 
spores so treated became fertile, assuming that otherwise they were 
