XII.
FUNGI.
By Worthington G. Smith, F.L.S.
With the fogs and rains of autumn the fungologist's harvest begins. A few fungi (large and small) appertain to the spring, and some species may be found in every month of the year; but it is not till September has well set in, or October is reached, that the glut of fungi is really upon us. Fungi may generally be met with in abundance for three months of the year; viz. from the latter half of September till the middle of December, the month of October taking pre-eminence for producing the greatest abundance of species. A season of moderate heat and rain is the most productive, for an excessive amount of either dryness or moisture appears to destroy the fecundity of the mycelium, which it must always be remembered is alive and at work (underground) the whole of the year; for, as a matter of course, this year's fungi is produced from last year's spores. These spores are set free in autumn, and at once vegetate and form masses of mycelium, from which next years crop must spring; just as the seeds of our wild annuals are self-sown at the fall of each year and first germinate at that season. It is a great mistake to suppose that Agarics and Boleti wait till the leaves fall, so that they may prey upon them; for, as a rule, the larger fungi never live upon the leaves of the same year as that in which they (the fungi) come up; fungi live upon the fallen leaves of the previous autumn. The spring and summer months will sometimes prove very productive, especially after stormy weather; but the collector must always bear in mind that fungi, like all other things, have their seasons. I have known the fungus harvest quite over by the end of August, and I have also known it not come in before December: it depends entirely upon a certain amount of atmospheric heat and moisture. A damp summer and stormy August will produce the crop at the beginning of September; but a dry autumn, without much rain till November, will delay the fungus crop till Christmas. Some species appear regularly twice a year from the same mycelium; once after the rains of March and April, and again in October. This is the case with Coprinus atramentarius, which I have growing (originally from spores) in a bed of my own garden.
It is useless to go out specially to collect fungi, either during the dry hot weather of summer or the frosts of winter; it sometimes, however, happens that odd fungi may be found here and there, in out-of-the-way places, such as the sides of open cellars and sawpits, under bridges, on prostrate logs in streams, in damp outhouses, or about old water-butts, &c.; therefore I never go out without two or three old seidlitz-powder boxes, some thin paper, and a strong knife, in case any waifs and strays should fall in my way. I have sometimes found good species in a friend's dustbin or cistern, or upon the sides of the open cellar of a public-house. I once found an agaricus on the cornice of London Bridge, to secure which I had to get over the parapet, and was nearly being taken into custody as one tired of life; another time I found a colony of Coprinus domesticus upon a friend's scullery wall, and a Peziza upon my brother's ceiling. Moral: Fungologists' pockets should, at all times, contain one or two small boxes for securing stray and erratic members of the fungus family.
The equipment for a fungus foray differs with the nature of the fungi to be collected. If the plants sought for are wholly microscopic, a small vasculum, knife, pocket-lens, and package of thin paper will be found sufficient; but if Agarics, Boleti, the larger Polyporei, &c., are to be brought home, a more complete set of things will be required, which should include a very small garden-trowel or carpenter's gouge (any saddler or bootmaker will make a suitable leather case for the blades for a shilling or two), a strong knife—such as gardeners use for pruning trees, a few sheets of thin paper, a lens, pocket-compass, and some string. If truffles are desired, a rake is necessary, and the best plan is to carry the iron-toothed end separately in a leather case, and made to screw on to the end of a walking-stick; when not in use, this end can be carried in the pocket with the trowel, &c. It is requisite that the vasculum be large, with straps to carry it over the shoulders; and the collector should be provided with a set of cardboard boxes, large and small, to go inside the vasculum, and to contain the more delicate or choice spoils of the day. Leather gloves and a thin great-coat are good things for the chilly days of early winter—this coat should be provided with at least four large pockets; and, if the weather is inclement, strong boots and waterproof leggings will be found serviceable. An old felt hat and large cotton umbrella are also desirable, for it is only a piece of folly to go into the wet dripping woods with good clothes. As for the umbrella, it should be one of the Mrs. Gamp pattern, of good size, and with a (removable) ring at the end farthest from the handle, so that it may be suspended from branches of trees, &c., whilst the fungi are sorted or examined below, or a frugal luncheon is discussed (perhaps during a passing storm of rain). The string will be found useful for tying up the larger Polyporei; these are frequently of great size, and often weigh many pounds. In collecting, all Agarics should be kept separate as much as possible; for this purpose thin paper, such as is used by stationers and milliners, is indispensable; every specimen should be wrapped very lightly in a piece of thin paper before boxing, as the elasticity of the paper not only prevents breaking and bruising, but it also prevents the spores of one species being scattered over another. In carrying fungi about, or sending fresh specimens from one place to another, nothing is so good as this thin paper interspersed here and there with fronds of the common bracken. Sawdust, hay, or wool, should never, on any account, be used: such things totally destroy the plants; but with careful packing with paper and bracken-fronds, fungi may be transported for any distance, by rail or otherwise, perfectly intact and undamaged. In packing the vasculum, see that the heavier plants are at the bottom and the lighter ones at the top; for if packed otherwise any fragile species will be certainly destroyed. I have known a good collection of Agarics rendered worthless by a loose puff-ball being placed with them, which has rolled about with every movement of the collector's body, and damaged big and little species alike, when a piece of paper or a fern-frond or two, to prevent rolling, would have kept all quite safe.
It is hardly necessary to specify localities, because fungi abound everywhere. If leaf fungi are sought for, hedge-sides will produce an abundant crop; if the Agaricini and Polyporei, forests and woods must be ransacked; if the edible species are wanted, rich open pastures (with few exceptions) must be traversed: the various species of truffles must be looked for principally in leafy glades—many prefer a calcareous subsoil, but at times they may be met with even in hedge-sides, town parks, or elsewhere.
When the collection of the day is complete, no species must be allowed to remain in the collecting-cases all night; for if the boxes are not carefully opened and the contents laid out, it will probably be found in the morning that some will have dissolved into an inky fluid, others will have got into the treacle state, whilst a third lot will be overrun with mould, or the smaller ones perhaps entirely eaten up by slugs or larvæ. Few things decompose so rapidly as fungi, especially the full-grown Boleti; these, though apparently perfectly sound one day, will sometimes be a horrible mass of fœtid treacle the next. I have sometimes received large parcels by rail or post when this horrible stinking matter has been dripping out, perhaps all over the carter's hands or down the postman's trousers; for ladies always will send Boleti in bonnet-boxes, tied with thin twine. Should any extra charge be demanded, on the ground of the insufficiently prepaid postage, or the parcels be unpaid, I invariably refuse to take them in, to the disgust of the parties bringing them. I shall not soon forget an ill-tempered postman who brought me two of these dripping treasures at the same time last autumn, with a demand for extra postage, and his look of silent disrelish as he walked off with one twine-suspended bonnet-box in each hand, the fragrant Boleti-treacle meanwhile manifesting itself upon the pavement. Even when quite fresh, the odour of some species is disgusting in the extreme; for instance, a single specimen of Phallus impudicus in the collecting-box will affect a whole railway carriage with the most horrible and sickening stench; whilst the curious truffle Melanogaster ambiguus is perhaps worse still, for its abominable odour is perfectly insufferable.
To dry and preserve a collection of fresh fungi is at times a very difficult task; for instance, some species are so entirely covered with a tenacious gluten that if they were at once put between drying-papers, it is certain they would never come out again with the least chance of being recognized by even the most acute fungologist; others are so deliquescent that in an hour or two they would dissolve into a watery mass, soak through all the paper, and leave a mere dirty stain between the sheets where the plant was originally placed. As a contrast, some of the Polyporei (as the young state of Polyporus igniarius) are so hard that nothing but a steam-hammer would have any chance of flattening them. There is considerable difficulty in ridding the plants from the larvæ with which they are often infested. A few drops of the oil of turpentine will, however, generally drive them from Agarics and other fleshy fungi; and, in regard to the woody Polyporei, a good plan is to place the plants in an oven, or on a hob for a short time, where the heat is not too powerful to destroy the plants, but still sufficiently potent to drive the larvæ from their holes. If this is not done, the collector's experience will probably be the same as mine has more than once been; viz. on opening a package (which should contain some choice dried fungus), to find only a stain, a few skins of dead maggots, and a little dirt—in fact, some of the species in my herbarium, though mostly poisoned with corrosive sublimate, get entirely devoured by rapacious and poison-proof larvæ, mites, and minute beetles.