FUNGUS EATING. 
13 
extensive than perhaps any other Englishman could boast; 
and moreover there seems to be no reason to suppose that he 
has much exaggerated this knowledge. At any rate, he 
mostly tells you, at first hand, what has been his own 
experience, and thus his work differs from many writings that 
have previously appeared, which merely tell us over again 
what we can find in other books. 
Another advantage which the writer possesses, is that he 
evidently does not belong to the clique which rules the 
mycological roast—or rather, stew—in this country. As he 
says: “ It has never been my privilege, as yet, to meet with 
any person versed in mycology, from whom I could derive 
instruction.” There is thus a freshness and a breezy origi¬ 
nality about what he writes, which is both interesting and 
bracing. He exhibits a disregard of the common prejudices 
of mycologists which is almost sublime. His passion for 
alphabetical arrangement, for instance, leads him to mix 
up unallied species in the fashion which popular writers 
usually, but erroneously, imagine to be more suitable for their 
audience. 
Mr. Hay’s great desire is to popularise the eating of 
fungi, although the title of his book is so worded as to give 
no hint of his design. For this purpose he describes, in 
language which he tries hard to render simple, all the 
British fungi which can by any stretch of imagination be 
considered esculent, together with some which are not 
British, and some which, even if they be considered eatable, 
offer scarcely anything tangible to eat. The latter he 
prettily names “ Jelly-sprouts.” Then, per contra , comes a 
list of the chief poisonous species, so that, if the searcher 
after novelties should find himself suddenly taken ill, he may 
know what name to apply to the author of the mischief. 
Two of the most important parts of the book are chapter 
vii., where notes are given “ On some common species of 
eatable mushrooms,” and Appendix B, “ Culinary Receipts,” 
in which 133 methods of cooking the various kinds are 
enumerated. Besides these there are Notes on Mushrooms 
dedicated to Saints (half the information in which is false), 
an Index (carefully arranged so that nobody can by any 
exercise of ingenuity find the species he is in quest of), 
chapters on the Discrimination of Fungi, their Use, Anatomy, 
Classification, Chemistry and Toxicology, Cultivation, &c., &c., 
and finally, at the end of the work, sixty-four plates of all 
possible kinds of fungi, eatable and uneatable, only eight or 
ten of which have even the slightest connection with the 
subject matter of the book. 
