432 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
portance of his hook : (1) by giving ail analytical key — like Mr. Bentham’s 
scheme for the identification of phanerogams — with the assistance of which 
the student could with safety refer a specimen to its species ; and (2) by 
stating in every case the exact period of the year at which each species 
may be found. According to the existing arrangement, the mushroom- 
hunter, having found a specimen which he desires to investigate, is 
either obliged to read the description of various species till he hits upon 
the proper one, or else has to search through both plates till he has 
found some illustration which corresponds to the specimen in question. 
This is all well enough for those who are incapable of grasping minute 
details of structure, and who therefore deserve to submit to the penalty of 
delay ; but some more perfect provision should be made for the better class 
of student. With reference to the second point, the deficiency can easily be 
met, and we think it is important that it should be provided against. We 
notice various species whose habits and character have been clearly stated 
by the author, but whose seasons of growth have not been mentioned. 
Of these the following are a few : — the variable mushroom, the furrowed 
clavaria, the chantarelle, the fir-cone mushroom, the orange-milk mushroom, 
the purple cobweb mushroom, the curled helvella, &c., which are edible. 
The same may be said of the poisonous mushrooms. We dwell upon this 
point of season because it not only is of interest to those who may wish to 
seek a particular specimen, but because it appears to us the knowledge of 
the period at which a particular species of fungus appears may be of value 
to the student when he finds a difficulty in referring a specimen to its proper 
place, &c. The collateral information which Mr. Smith lays before his 
readers is curious, and will not a little astonish some Londoners. Those 
who derive their supply of mushrooms from Covent Garden Market, and 
who fancy that they obtain the common mushroom, Agaricus campestris , 
will be surprised to learn that the species supplied to them is what is known 
as the horse-mushroom, A. arvensis. The latter not unfrequently is found 
growing with the former, and is often mistaken for it ; nevertheless, it is 
usually larger, coarser, and possesses a less delicious flavour. The top, in 
perfect specimens, is smooth and snowy white ; the gills are not the pure 
pink of the meadow-mushroom, but are of a dirty brownish white, which 
changes to black ; its stem is disposed to be hollow, and is surrounded by a 
large ragged u floccose ” ring. Now, this species is almost the only one to 
be seen in Covent Garden Market. 11 Indeed,” says Mr. Smith, u after 
knowing the market for many years, I have rarely seen any other species 
there ; when the true mushroom, however, is there, it is frequently mingled 
with horse-mushrooms, which seems to show that the dealers do not know 
one from the other. In the wet days of autumn, children, idlers, and others 
go a few miles from town into the meadows to gather whatever they can find 
in the mushroom line. They then bring their daily stock to market, where 
it is sold to fashionable purchasers, stale, vapid, and without taste — unless 
it be a bad one.” Our author’s general remarks on each of the species are as 
interesting as those we have quoted, and they have afforded us a good deal of 
agreeable reading. The fungus season is now almost at its height, and we 
advise all who are interested — gourmets and fungologists — to make Mr. Smith’s 
book their field companion. We can say nothing more favourable of his 
plates than that they are likely to be productive of very delicious dishes. 
