THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
31 
rooms ; when once known it can never be forgotten. It is 
usually found in May and June,, beneatli thick groves of 
taller fir and beech trees. Speaking of the qualities of this 
fungus, Cooke, in his f Plain and Easy Account of British 
Fungi/ says : — 
“The Morel is chiefly employed in this country in the 
dried state as seasoning for soups, in which state they are 
imported, The ordinary retail price is from one shilling 
to eighteenpence an ounce. 
“Although only employed here in its dried state for 
seasoning, it is far more delicious when fresh, and affords a 
liquor of much more exquisite flavour than the ketchup of 
mushrooms; The demand was formerly so great for Morels 
in Germany that the peasantry were induced to burn down 
the woodland in immense tracks, on account of the more 
productive nature of burnt soil, until legislative enactment 
put an end to the practice.” 
The finest specimens we have ever seen were gathered by 
us in Earl Bathurst’s Park, at Cirencester, beneath a group 
of fir trees, and we have procured some good specimens from 
one of our own orchards in Dorsetshire. 
From both localities we have enjoyed good dishes of this 
our favourite fungus. The plant is not uncommon in the 
Cotteswold district, and we found that a greengrocer in 
Cirencester always had some on sale in their season, and 
were informed that Lady Georgiana Bathurst gave directions 
to have some sent to the mansion when they were found. 
The militia mess, too, was regaled with these for a season, 
and they were greatly approved. 
Our methods of cooking have usually been to fry with a 
little broth and thin slices of ham, seasoning with pepper 
and salt; a squeeze of lemon juice brings out the flavour. 
But the best dish is formed by filling up the hollow cap of 
the fungus with veal or forcemeat stuffing, and then fry with 
thin bits of bacon. 
4. The Puffballs are too well known to need description. 
In the ripe state, when the brown sporules issue from a 
fracture which occurs on the apex of the peridium they are 
known by the name of the Devil's Snuff box. In this con- 
dition, or an approach to it, the fungus is useless as food, but 
if when the lesser species have their whole substance white 
as small snow balls, or when, as in the larger form, the 
Lycoperdon bovista, or Giant Puff ball, it reminds one both 
in size and colour of a purely white wooled lamb coiled up ; 
they are all edible. 
The latter, however, is to be preferred, and when, as we 
