14 
FUNGUS EATING. 
It is evident from this that there is much to commend, 
but also much to criticise in the result of Mr. Hay's 
endeavours. Perhaps his greatest fault is his deficient sense 
of the ludicrous, which suggests for him a Scotch descent. 
In regard to the plates, e.g., which are the most objectionable 
of all the blunders, he is careful to make the publishers 
responsible for the stupidity of including in a work dealing 
with eatable fungi, a series of plates representing microscopic 
species, many of which are totally invisible to the naked eye. 
The publishers’ apparent desire was to make the book look 
larger and more imposing at a cheap cost, and for this 
purpose they dragged in, regardless of their impertinence, 
all the old figures formerly used to illustrate Cooke’s Hand¬ 
book. But the author ought to have foreseen the ridicule 
which such a proceeding would call down upon him, and have 
made a stand against the spoiling of his work. 
The want of a feeling for the ludicrous is still more plainly 
visible in the English names he invents for the heading of his 
descriptions. It might be well to have English names by 
which to designate the eatable and poisonous kinds ; but 
certainly no one, outside a company of the insane, could use 
those which the author has invented without exciting Homeric 
laughter. 
Picture to yourself the funeral procession on its way to 
the cemetery of Big St. George, the Arch-Bane, seated on 
Beelzebub’s Cushion, at its head ; the Golden Spindle-spike 
for the beadle, the Crocodile for chief mourner, the Guilty - 
sprout for the corpse, the Sickener as the medical man, the 
Black Bulgar as the “ intelligent foreigner,” the Longsliank 
and the Spotty-leg Bolet as the mutes, the Chamseleon and 
the Yellow Reptile to draw the hearse, the Wrinkle-twig to 
form the plumes, and the Turn-over to dig the grave. With 
what conscience could you invite your friends to a dainty dish 
of Rat’s-paws, or Red-nails, or Blood-stains, or Peg-tops, or 
Little Darkies, all of which are put forth as edible ; the 
latter suggests cannibal propensities. The titles of some 
of the culinary receipts are just as laughable ; it does not 
sound like a cook’s duty “ To prepare Parasols,” or “ To 
pickle Spindle-shanks,” while when the author shows us how 
“ To prepare Urchins,” he surely trespasses upon the 
governess’s domain. “ Urchin Ragout” has an uncanny 
sound; and most fungus-eaters, who, as becomes a naturalist, 
are usually somewhat bashful men, might shrink from being 
introduced to such sirens as the Grisette, the Ingenue, the 
Blusher, the Brazen-face, or the Sickener's Sister. 
