October 16, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
105 
A CONFERENCE ON TOAD¬ 
STOOLS. 
The sketch published herewith has been drawn as 
a n illustration of Spencer’s lines in the Faerie Queen — 
“The grisly todestool grown there mought I see, 
And loathed paddocks lording on the same. ” 
It is a very old-established belief in many districts that 
toads commonly sit upon fungi in the manner illus¬ 
trated ; this idea has arisen from a misunderstanding 
that of Lyisoperdon for puff-balls—shows that there was 
once a belief that these fungi, too, arose from the dung 
or “stool” of the wolf; and Elaphomyces, a truffle, 
from the dung or “stool” of a stag. Spencer, as is 
shown by.his use of the word “lording,” imagines his 
toads enthroned on fungi. It is curious that “ the 
toad, ugly and venomous” was yet said to “wear a 
precious jewel in its head.” This was the toadstone, 
or stelon, which was said to have the power of curing 
the bite of a “ rat, wasp, spider, or other venomous 
meaning that the fungi naturally absorbed poisonous 
matter from the positions given. Pliny says, if ser¬ 
pents even breathe upon toadstools the latter imbibe 
the “poison.” Toads being much commoner than 
“serpents” in northern Europe, the baneful qualities 
of bad fungi were credited to the poor inoffensive toads, 
or, to use Spencer’s words, the “loathed paddocks.” 
Conferences on Toadstools are every year, in the 
month of October, frequent, enjoyable and very in¬ 
structive. Fungi are as well known in England as in 
A Conference on Toadstools. 
of the meaning of the word “toadstool” or “paddo< 
stool.” One meaning of the word “paddock” 
“toad,” and in old times, when the toad was looki 
upon as ugly and venomous, poisonous fungi we 
supposed to spontaneously arise from its dung ; tl 
second syllable, “stool,” being really the old wo: 
which is synonymous with dung, or the place we 
dung is laid down. Poisonous fungi were, in shoi 
supposed to grow in places where the poisonous trail 
dung of some venomous animal had been deposited. 
In some districts, toadstools were known as “toad' 
caps, as if toads sometimes took refuge under poisono 
Mushrooms. The botanical names of some fungi— 
beast ” ; the toad itself, however, not being included. 
The toadstone also gave warning of the presence of 
poison by changing colour, and, strange to say, by 
“sweating”; toadstools make some people “sw r eat” 
badly. Suppositious toadstones may be seen in collec¬ 
tions ; but they are too uncommon for every fungus- 
eater to acquire one as a talisman. A suggestion was 
once made that “toadstool” should properly be printed 
“todstool, ” the word tod signifying death ; toadstool, 
however, is correct. 
Nicander, who wrote b.c. 185, says that toadstools 
grow on “ the viper’s deep hollow track ” ; Dioscorides 
that they grow “near serpents’ holes” ; both authors 
any part of Europe ; indeed, British mycologists are 
probably ahead of their continental brethren. There 
are in Britain nearly 800 species belonging to one 
genus of fungi alone, viz., the genus Agaricus. Owing 
to the vast and ever increasing number of species, an 
immense amount of time has been spent on classification 
alone, to the neglect of anatomy, physiology and other 
branches of study; the number of species is so enormous 
that if any student wishes to learn the names only of 
British fungi, he will, probably, never be able to 
properly learn anything else. 
The fungi shown in the illustration are Agricus 
fastibilis, a toadstood of the worst class. It is highly 
