THE ESCULENT FUNGUSES OF ENGLAND. 
423 
ing by the bushel, and no basket but our own 
to pick up a few specimens in our way ; the 
sweet nutty-flavoured Boletus, in vain calling 
himself edulis where there was none to believe 
him ; the dainty Orcella ; the Agaricus hete- 
ropliyllus, which tastes like the craw -fish when 
grilled ; the Agaricus ruber and 'Agaricus 
virescens, to cook in any way, and equally 
good in all ; — these were among the most 
conspicuous of the trouvailles ; but that the 
reader may know all he is likely to find in one 
single autumn let him glance at the catalogue 
below.* He may at first alarm his friends' 
cooks, but their fears will, I promise him, 
soon be appeased, after one or two trials of 
this new class of viands, and he will not long 
pass either for a conjuror, or something worse, 
ii» giving directions to stew toadstools; as 
soon as he is initiated in this class of dainties 
he will, I am persuaded, lose no time in 
making the discovery known to the poor of 
the neighbourhood ; while in so doing he will 
render an important service to the country at 
large, by instructing the indigent and igno- 
rant in the choice of an ample, wholesome, 
and excellent article, which they may convert 
into money, or consume at their own tables, 
when properly prepared, throughout the 
winter."— Pp. 133—137. 
After treating on the range of fungus 
growths, of their general forms, colours, tex- 
tures, odours, and tastes, the expansive power 
of their growth, their reproductive power, 
motion, phosphorescence, dimensions, che- 
mical composition,' uses, and development, 
Dr. Eadham goes on to describe the following 
as wholesome species : — 
Agaricus prunulus, Ag. procerus, Boletus 
edtdis, Ag. campestris, Ag. exquisitus, Ag. 
deliciosus, Boletus scaber, Ag. persotiatus, 
Ag. Oreades, Ag. nebularis, Cantharellus 
cibarius, Ag. atramentarius, Ag. comatus, 
Ag. heteropliyllus, Ag. ruber, Ag. virescens, 
Ag. ostreatus, Ag. rubescens, Morckellia 
esculenta, BTydnum repandum, Fistulina 
hepatica, Ag. orcella, BZelvella crispa, Bl. 
lacunosa, Verpa digitaliformis, Peziza ace- 
tabulum, Polyporus tuberaster, P. fron- 
drosus, Clavaria coralloides, Lycoperdon 
* " The whole of the species mentioned in the 
annexed list were met with by the author this summer 
and autumn, (1846,) and partaken of by himself and 
friends, viz: — Amanita vaginata; Ag. rubescens, 
procerus, prunulus, ruber, heteropliyllus, virescens, 
deliciosus, nebularis, personatus, virgineus, fusipes, 
Oreades, ostreatus, orcella, campestris, (and its varie- 
ties edulis and pratensis), exquisitus, comatus, and 
idmarius ; Cantharellus cibarius ; Polyporus fron- 
dosus ; Boletus edulis and scaber; Fistulina hepatica; 
Hydnum repandum; Helvetia lacunosa; Peziza 
acetabulum and Bovista plumbea ; Lycoperdon gem- 
mafum and Clavaria strigosa' y 
plumbeum, L. bovista, Ag. melleus (nauseous), 
Ag. ulmarius, Ag. fusifes, Ag. vaginatus, 
Ag. violaceus, Ag. castaneus, Ag. piperatus, 
Ag. virgineus ; of these the Agaricus cam- 
pestris (common Mushroom) and MorchelUa 
esculenta (Morel) are the only ones in com- 
mon use. 
Regarding fungi as an article of diet, and 
the modes of distinguishing the wholesome 
from the poisonous species, we find the 
following remarks : — 
" That the mushroom is not quite so whole- 
some when cultivated, as it is in the meadow 
in a state of nature, cannot be doubted .;* and 
that many persons have suffered both in 
France and England, more or less, gastric 
disturbance after eating those taken from hot- 
beds, or from dark foul unaerated places, is 
certain ; that mushrooms also in decay, when 
chemistry has laid hold of their tissues and 
changed their juices, have produced disagree- 
able sensations in the stomach and bowels, is 
not to be questioned ; finally, that the idiosyn- 
cracy of some persons is opposed to this diet, 
as that of others is to shell-fish, to melons, 
cucumbers, and the like, must also be ceded ; 
but none of these admissions surely meddle 
with the question, nor go any way towards 
proving the assumed fact, viz : — that a mush- 
room ever changes its nature and becomes 
poisonous like the toadstool. f It has been 
unwarily asserted, that because the people of 
the north are in the habit of employing in 
their kitchen the Agaricus muscarius, which 
is known to be poisonous in the south, that 
this points to some remarkable difference in 
the plant, depending on difference of locality. 
It is to be recollected, however, that this very 
same fungus if taken, in sufficient quantity, 
without the precaution usually adopted of 
soaking it in vinegar before cooking, has pro- 
duced fatal accidents, of which we read the 
recitals in various mycological works ; and 
only not more frequently, because the plant 
being generally well steeped in brine or acetic 
acid, is in most cases robbed of deleterious 
" " Locality has a great effect upon almost all that 
we eat : our very mutton varies in different counties ; 
compare the town-bred gutter-fed poultry of London, 
with that of twenty miles around ; fish vary, the tench 
out of different ponds are different ; fruits vary with 
the soil ; are potatoes everywhere the same 1" 
f " Persons have fancied themselves poisoned when 
they were not ; indigestion produced by mushrooms 
is looked upon with fear and suspicion, and if a medi- 
cal man be called in, the stomach-pump used, and 
relief obtained by its rejection, nothing will persuade 
either patient or practitioner that this has not been a 
case of poisoning. ' You have saved my life/ says 
the one. ' I think you will not be persuaded to eat 
any more mushrooms for some time,' says the other : 
and so they part ; each under the impression that he 
knows more about mushrooms than any body else can 
tell him."' 
