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that it is best eaten when thoroughly mature and almost beginning 
to decay, for when young it is bitter and astringent. It is sometimes 
used raw as salad, but in the writer's opinion is not to be recom- 
mended in this form. When stewed with butter, it is quite nice, 
though its taste is rather acrid, and very different from that of the 
Mushroom. It usually grows on the same tree, and not infrequently 
in exactly the same position, year after year. 
The Genus Polyporus resembles the Boleti in possessing pores, but 
differs from them in being dry and woody in nature, instead of 
succulent. Fungi of this genus are common on rotting stumps, and 
some grow parasitically on living trees. The Giant-tuft 
(Polyporus giganteus, Page 46) is a large Fungus which grows at the 
roots of living trees in dense clustered masses. The numerous fronds 
grow out from a tuberous base. They are brown and velvety above, 
but are much paler on their lower surfaces, which are covered with 
very fine pores. 
Dryad’s Saddle (Page 47), another large Polyporus with a dingy 
yellow scaly cap, is often seen on living trees and sprouts out year 
after year from the same spot. It usually grows in overlapping 
clusters, a single specimen like that shown being unusual. 
Page 48 (Polyporus versicolor) shows probably the commonest 
British Fungus, but makes an unattractive photo. It grows on 
stumps of trees, and is of a dark greenish-brown colour marked with 
brown or orange narrow concentric zones. The upper surface is 
velvety, and the lower is covered with short minute pores. 
Craterellus cornucopioides (Page 40) is a common Fungus, but its 
appearance is so unattractive, that it has acquired no common name. 
It is shaped like a horn or trumpet, is hollow and of a dark brown or 
black colour. If cut in two, longitudinally, it will be seen to be 
made up of two layers of tissue, which can be easily separated from 
one another, except along the trumpet edge. It is often met with in 
woods in autumn, but, though a good sized Fungus, it frequently 
escapes notice, so closely does it resemble the dead leaves amongst 
which it grows. There is a greyish frosty bloom on its outer side, 
due to the spores, which are borne on the whole outer surface, which 
is without gills or pores. Though uncanny in appearance Craterellus 
is said to be very good when cooked. It should first be slit down 
the middle and carefully washed, as grit, and even small snails 
freqnenlly collect at the apex of its hollow interior. 
Stag’s Horn Fungi or Clavariasof various colours are often met 
with in fields and among dead leaves in Autumn. Most are small, 
delicate and much branched, and spores are borne over the whole of 
the exposed surface. Page 50 shows a white variety (Clavaria 
cinerea) which grows among dead leaves in woods, while Clavaria 
rugosa (Page 51), is of a dingy yellow colour, and is found among 
the grass in fields and woods. It is distinguished by its irregular 
longitudinal wrinkles. Clavarias are sometimes eaten in England, 
and not at all uncommonly abroad, but most British species are 
quite small, and hardly worth the trouble of collecting for culinary 
purposes. 
Page 52 represents what is perhaps the most curious of all the 
British Fungi. It is called the Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus) and 
well deserves it name, for its smell is detestable. This Fungus is 
fairly common, and the odour is so distinctive that a specimen can 
be detected by it many yards off, and thus tracked to its lair. 
Indeed, something like heroism was needed to secure the photographs 
