“I only know a little that papa—I mean my father, taught me.”
“He used to take you for walks, then, my boy?”
“Oh, such delicious walks, sir.”
“And you learned a good deal? Look! What a great toadstool! Don’t handle it, my boy, some of these things are very poisonous.”
“This is not, sir,” I said eagerly; “this is Boletus edulis, and very good eating.”
“Indeed; and pray what does Boletus edulis mean?”
“The eatable boletus, sir. There is a family of fungi called the boleti, sir, and you can easily tell them, because they are all full of pores, or little holes, underneath, while the ordinary agarics have gills like this.”
I picked up one with a brilliant scarlet top as I spoke, and showed him the white gills beneath.
“And has that a name?” he said.
“Oh yes; that is a very poisonous and rather rare specimen: it is Russula emetica.”