DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.
| [Plate I.] | |
| Fig. 1. | Agaricus prunulus. |
| ” 2. | Agaricus personatus. |
| [Plate II.] | |
| Agaricus procerus. | |
| [Plate III.] | |
| Fig. 1, 2. | Boletus edulis. |
| ” 3, 4. | Agaricus heterophyllus. |
| [Plate IV.] | |
| Fig. 1. | Polyporus frondosus. |
| ” 2. | Agaricus nebularis. |
| ” 3, 4, 5. | Agaricus exquisitus. |
| [Plate V.] | |
| Fig. 1. | Helvella lacunosa. |
| ” 2. | Clavaria amethystina. |
| ” 3. | Clavaria coralloides. |
| ” 4. | Agaricus deliciosus. |
| ” 5. | Clavaria cinerea. |
| ” 6. | Clavaria rugosa. |
| [Plate VI.] | |
| Fig. 1, 2. | Boletus scaber. |
| ” 3, 4, 5. | Boletus luridus. |
| [Plate VII.] | |
| Fig. 1, 2, 3. | Agaricus comatus. |
| ” 4. | Agaricus oreades. |
| ” 5. | Agaricus Dryophilus. |
| [Plate VIII.] | |
| Fig. 1. | Cantharellus cibarius. |
| ” 2. | Tuber æstivum. |
| ” 3, 4. | Hydnum repandum. |
| ” 5. | Lycoperdon pyriforme. |
| [Plate IX.] | |
| Fig. 1, 2. | Agaricus atramentarius. |
| ” 3. | Agaricus melleus. |
| [Plate X.] | |
| Agaricus ostreatus. | |
| [Plate XI.] | |
| Fig. 1, 2. | Agaricus Orcella. |
| ” 3, 4, 5. | Agaricus rubescens. |
| [Plate XII.] | |
| Fig. 1, 2. | Fistulina hepatica. |
| ” 3, 4, 5. | Helvella esculenta. |
| ” 6. | Morchella esculenta. |
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
No country is perhaps richer in esculent Funguses than our own; we have upwards of thirty species abounding in our woods. No markets might therefore be better supplied than the English, and yet England is the only country in Europe where this important and savoury food is, from ignorance or prejudice, left to perish ungathered.
In France, Germany, and Italy, Funguses not only constitute for weeks together the sole diet of thousands, but the residue, either fresh, dried, or variously preserved in oil, vinegar, or brine, is sold by the poor, and forms a valuable source of income to many who have no other produce to bring into the market. Well, then, may we style them, with M. Roques, “the manna of the poor.” To call attention to an article of commerce elsewhere so lucrative, with us so wholly neglected, is the object of the present work, to which the best possible introduction will be a brief reference to the state of the fungus market abroad.
The following brief summary was drawn up by Professor Sanguinetti, the Official Inspector (“Ispettore dei Funghi”) at Rome; let it speak for itself:—“For forty days during the autumn, and for about half that period every spring, large quantities of Funguses, picked in the immediate vicinity of Rome, from Frascati, Rocca di Papa, Albano, beyond Monte Mario towards Ostia and the neighbourhood of the sites of Veii and Gabii, are brought in at the different gates. In the year 1837, the Government instituted the so-called Congregazione Speciale di Sanità, which, among other duties, was more particularly required to take into serious consideration the commerce of Funguses, from the unrestricted sale of which during some years past, cases of poisoning had not unfrequently occurred. The following decisions were arrived at by this body:—