Octomr 15, 1859.] CONFESSIONS OF A TOADSTOOL-EATER. 323
young, is white, soon turning to reddish brown, and is remarkable for being marked about the upper part with a minute net, or lattice-work, of darker lines. Under trees, in oak and other woods, is the habitation of this fungus, where it may be found in summer and autumn. I have gathered it as early as the middle of June. The Boletus edulis grows, in size, from the dimensions of a small tea-saucer to those of a large cheese- plate. It is a soft fat fungus, with beautifully white flesh, and, when baked or broiled, eats much like an omelette, with a slight taste of mushroom. It relishes all the better if dressed with fine herbs. Whether it would equally suc- ceed as a substitute for a sweet omelette I cannot say, not having as yet tried it with currant- jelly or raspberry- jam.
About the latter end of September and the first half of October appears the A garicus procerus, a fungus of no mean quality. It is, as its name implies, tall, often standing upwards of a foot in height, though dwarf specimens are also to be met with. The cap, from four to seven inches across, is shaggy on the outside, brownish white, or other- wise partridge coloured, sprinkled with scales of blackish scurf. In the centre there is a black rounded knob, very much like the black nose of a little dog. The stem (which is unfit to eat) is of a woody texture, figured with blackish markings, arranged similarly to those of a snake. The whole fungus bears a striking resemblance to a parasol or umbrella — a similitude increased by a broad membranous ring surrounding its upper part. The gills are nearly white, with a slight tinge of fiesh colour. The flesh is quite white, of a light and springy texture. Simply cooked in an oven, this fungus has a sweetish somewhat mealy taste, with scarcely any mushroom flavour. It ought to be seasoned with a little garlic; and, with this addition, makes a good stew, which a blind man might take for tripe of unusual delicacy, uncommonly well cleansed. After cooking, the gills remain white; yet, if sprinkled with salt, in a few days they turn black, and the Agaricus procerus thus treated affords, though in compara- tively small quantity, an excellent ketchup, which differs only from that of the common mushroom in being finer. The Agaricus procerus is fond of parks and commons, particularly flourishing in lose proximity to furze-bushes and dead fern.
After rain, during autumn, the Agaricus fusipes comes up at some little distance from the roots of oaks. It is of middling size. The cap of this fungus is brown, often partially marked with blotches, which look like lamp-black or the film of soot that forms on the bars of a grate. The stalk is small, rather contorted; the gills are at first brownish white, and then of a rich dark bistre almost black. The taste of this fungus is much like that of the common mushroom.
The same may be said of the flavour of the Agaricus atramentarius and Agaricus comatus , two allied funguses found in fields, gardens, and waste places, in summer and autumn. The atra - mentarius (so called because it will serve to make ink) often grows in clumps or clusters on the stumps of trees. It is a greyish conical fungus with slate-coloured gills, and a smooth, straight,
whitish stem, about four inches high. Its closed cap is about as big as an egg. The comatus is all white, and of an oval form before it expands, softer than the atramentarius , and covered with a delicate moist scurf. When this fungus expands its margin becomes ragged, and divided, as it were, into locks, whence its name. The gills then turn black. These toadstools deliquesce rapidly, and, though good enough to eat, are best for ketchup. None but young specimens are fit for either purpose.
After rain, from July till late in the autumn, the Agaricus heterophyUus appears in woods and under trees. It is from three to five inches in diameter across the cap. This is a livid-looking toadstool, generally of the colour of an Orleans plum; yellow in some instances, in others lilac, sky-blue, or green. Its gills are white. Its stalk, externally, has the colour and appearance of spermaceti, and inside is of a sort of pithy texture. Badham praises this fungus too highly, unless some peculiar method of cookery which I am not aware of can render it worth cooking. It yields, however, a rich and savoury gravy, and a ketchup which, on cooling after having been boiled, deposits a quantity of jelly.
Champignon is a name commonly given to the small button mushroom. It is, however, a de- nomination properly belonging to the Agaricus oreades; a little buff fungus which, during all the summer and most of the autumn, after wet weather succeeded by sun, abounds in fields and meadows, and on strips of grass by the road-side. Fairy- rings are often thickly studded with it, which circumstance may have procured for it its classical name. The cap is conical, rather leathery; the gills are of a lighter tint than the cap; the stem is very tough and fibrous. This is an agreeable fungus, tasting a little like a mushroom, and having, like the pruntdus , the advantage of keeping when dried, and in that state serving to flavour hashes and stews. It is impossible for any one who is well acquainted with this fungus to mistake it, but very possible for anybody else to mistake it for two rather similar toadstools which are deleterious.
Of the Agaricus personatus I can say nothing worse than that, if underdone, it will, as afore- said, give its consumer a stomach-ache. It is hardly worth further description than what I have already given. This toadstool tastes a little like veal, and might make a tolerable accompaniment to a bit of bacon. That is the best I can say of it.
The CanthareUus cibarius is a small orange- yellow fungus with decurrent gills; it grows in the same season with the procerus , in the short grass and among the moss on commons and about woods. It has a faint smell of apricots. It makes a good fry, much like whitebait, and also does well in a stew.
Most wanderers amid forests have remarked an excrescence which looks like a mass of liver springing out of living oak trees. This is the Fistulina hepatica. When first formed, it re- sembles a tongue protruding from the tree; except that its colour at first is of a light yellowish
red. In this state its upper surface is studded