288 B O T 
plants are ufed as food ; fuch as the Fucus faccharinus, 
digitatus, palmatus, &c. which are eaten boiled, with but¬ 
ter, pepper, and vinegar. If the firft of thefe be walked 
in fpring water, and hung up in a warm place, a fubftance 
like fugar exudes from ir. The laft-mentioned fpecies is 
called by the Irilh dulkjh ; by the Scotch dills ; and in 
Northumberland dulls or dulfe. Being foaked in frefti wa¬ 
ter, it is afterwards hung up, and eaten dried, in which 
date it has fomething of a violet flavour. It is fold in the 
ftreets of Dublin after being dried, and is faid to fweeten 
the breath and kill worms. They alfo conflitute the food 
of various kinds of fifti. 
Order 4. FUNGI, or MUSHROOMS. 
This order conliils of plants moftly of a cork-like tex¬ 
ture, and of (hort duration, bearing their feeds either in 
gills or tubes, or attached to fibres, or to a fpongy fub- 
tfance. As we yet know but little of their fructification, 
the generic characters are taken from their exernal form, 
or from the difpofition of their feeds. The genera here¬ 
tofore eftablifhed in this order, are ten, as follow : Aga- 
ricus, agaric; Boletus ; Hydnum ; Phallus, ftinkhorns ; 
Clathrus or Trichiae ; Peziza, cup mulliroom ; Helvella, 
turban top ; Clavaria, club mulliroom; Lycoperdon, truf¬ 
fle, or puff-ball ; and Mucor, mould, growing in arched 
Vaults, or out of rotten dung, corrupted food, &c. To 
thefe, modern difcovery hath added feven more, viz. Me- 
rulius ; Tiftulina ; Auricularia ; Nidularia; Tuber; Re- 
ticularia ; and Spheria. 
The following are the principal difcoveries of Hedwig 
on the fubjeCt of Fungi. On dividing the agaricus amanita 
longitudinally, before the curtain had begun to feparate 
from the edge of the pileus or cap, the whole inner fur- 
face at firft appeared white ; but while the operator was 
examining fome (till whiter lines in the fleflr of the pileus 
and Item, the upper and under furface of the curtain chang- 
ed to a violet, and in a fhort time after to a brownifh co¬ 
lour. On railing a final! .portion of this furface, and view¬ 
ing it under high magnifiers, Hedwig difcovered pellucid 
fucculent veflels, and innumerable oval globules connected 
therewith, of a dilute brown colour. The part from which 
this portion had been taken away, did not change colour 
again. He next examined a portion taken from one of the 
gills, whilft it was yet white. It was divifible, though not 
readily, into two lamina. The lower edge was thickly fet 
with tender cylindrical fubftances, fome of which had a 
globule at their extremities, but others not. The gill it- 
felf appeared of a reticulated ftruCture, with larger and more 
diftinCt fpots, a little raifed. In another older plant of the 
fame fpecies, wherein the curtain was torn, the pileus 
pretty fully expanded, and the gills turned yellow, the 
upper part of the ftem began to be tinged by a brown pow¬ 
der Hied from the gills. It was evident, on examination, 
that this brown powder was the feeds, and that it proceed¬ 
ed from the larger fpots before obferved in the gill, the 
two laminae of which now readily feparated. There is 
therefore great reafon to believe that the ftamina are the 
globules attached to the threads found within the curtain ; 
when thefe vanifh, the plant continues to grow until it 
fcatters its feeds, and then it dies. Hence it ftiould feem, 
that the full expanfion of the pileus indicates the maturity 
•of the feeds, and that the fructification is performed pre¬ 
vious to the rupture of the curtain. 
On examining the curtains and the rings of different 
Agarics and Boleti, the above-mentioned globules were al¬ 
ways found on their upper or inner furfaces. In fome of 
the yellow Agarics, they are fo numerous on the upper 
furface, as to (lain the fingers when touched, but the un¬ 
der fide is fmootli and entirely deftitute of them. Some 
few Agarics feem to have only a row of thefe threads be- 
fet with globules at the edge of the pileus, whilft it is in 
contaCt with the ftem; and upon this expanfion they fliri- 
vel and drop off. It is true that in many Agarics we nei¬ 
ther find curtain nor ring, nor thefe threads at the edge 
of the pileus, but when this is the cafe, the threads arc 
ANY.. 
placed upon the ftem ; and may readily be fodnd by exa¬ 
mining the plant in its very young ftate, before the edge 
of the pileus f'eparates from the ftem. This ftruCture takes 
place in many of the Agarics, the Hydnum imbricatum, 
and the Boleti, which are rarely furnifhed with a curtain. 
After the pileus in thefe is expanded, and the ftem grown 
longer, its upper part where the ftamens were feated, be¬ 
comes reticulated. The feeds of the Boleti are found 
within the membrane that lines the tubes. 
The ftemlefs Agarics and Boleti prefent fimilar appear¬ 
ances about the edge, and at the bafe. Something of the 
fame kind is alfo found in the Peziza cyathoides, whofe 
feeds appear to be inclofed in a kind of pod ; and likewise 
in one or more of the Lycoperdons ; but thefe have not 
yet been fufficiently examined. Whether the fucculent 
veflels in the margin, or the furface of the gills, or the 
mouths of the tubes, be, or be not, ftyles and ftigmas; or 
whether they are deligned for any other purpofe, could 
not be afcertained. It is therefore evident, that for the 
practical purpofes of inveftigation, the minutiae of the 
fructification can at prefent avail us but little. 
The dark powder in the Lycoperdon and Mucor, was 
ferioully taken for animalcules , by baron Munchaufen ; and 
thus the whole tribe of Fungi were on the verge of being 
ranked in the clafs of Zoophytes. According to the baron, 
thofe globules, which appear almoft black, are femitranf- 
parent, and contain a black particle. If they be mixed 
with water and kept in a warm place, they prefently fwell, 
and are changed into ovate animalcules, that in a few days 
unite and form a mafsof pretty firm texture, which is the 
fungus. Mr. Ellis however has (hewn fatisfactorily, that 
the motion of thefe globules was occafioned by a number 
of very minute animalcules feeding upon them, and thefe 
being much fmaller than the globules, are difficult to de¬ 
tect, on which account, it feems, the baron overlooked 
them. It is now, therefore, univerfally admitted, that all 
the fungufes are real vegetables, producing feeds by which 
they have been propagated, and generally maintaining a 
monoecious character. 
Example for Investigation. 
The fpecies here delineated, is the Agaricus campefiris, 
or common muJJiroom. The plant confifts of a cap or cover, 
called the pileus, with gills underneath; and a volva, or 
curtain, which in the young plant (huts up the tender gills,, 
and unites the pileus with the ftem. Fig. 35, is a longi¬ 
tudinal feCtion of themuftiroom, to (hew the interior ftruc- 
ture; a, the pileus or cap ; b, the gills ; c, the Item ; d } 
the ruptured curtain, here forming a ring. Fig. 26, re- 
prefents the plant entire, where d, the curtain, is juft be¬ 
ginning to feparate from the pileus, whereby the gills be¬ 
come expofed, and the feeds difteminated. Fig. 27, a por¬ 
tion of the gill, to (hew the fructification, or unripe feeds. 
Fig. 28, the ripe feeds. Fig. 29, the radicles or roots arif- 
ing from the difteminated feeds, vulgarly called the mufh- 
room fpawn; alfo, the young plants juft emerging from 
the bed. For the mode of propagation and culture, either 
by the fpawn or feeds, fee Agaricus, vol.i. p.191 ; and 
the article Mushroom. 
Many 6f the fungus tribe are much efteemed in foreign 
countries as a luxurious food, on account of their high 
flavour. We in England almoft confine ourfelves to 
the Agaricus campeftris, the Morell, and the Truffle : 
which are particularly treated of, under the articles Aga¬ 
ricus, Phallus, and Lycoperdon. In Ruffia we are 
told that they are eaten almoft indifcriminately, falted and 
thus kept for winter u(e. That many have fuffered dif- 
eafe, and fome even death, from eating voracionfly or in- 
cautioufty of the fungufles, is certain ; it is doubtful how¬ 
ever whether many of them be really poifonotts, in the 
drift and proper fenfe of the word. A great variety of 
infeCtsTeed on the different fpecies, particularly the larvai 
or maggots of many of the mujccg or fly .genus. Some 
fungufes have been found of confiderable ufe in flopping 
external haemorrhages j and the acrimonius qualities of 
others 
