In about half an hour after partaking of them my head began to ache, my brain to swim, and my throat and stomach to burn, as if in contact with fire. After being ill for some hours, a terrible fit of purging and vomiting set in, which appeared soon to set me to rights; for after a day or so I was no worse for it.
Fetid Wood-Witch. [Fig. 31.]
(Phallus impudicus.)914.
This is a great ornament to our woods, but its truly horrible effluvia beggars description; the nasal organs detect its presence at a long distance, and when neared the loathsome odour is indescribably revolting. Flies, however, appear to highly relish it; for these Phalli are invariably covered with flies, who greedily devour the odorous and liquid repast found at the top of the stem. It is most abundant at woody places in the north of London, all through the summer till the late autumn.
Had not this species really been eaten, with several other singular, offensive, and dangerous fungi figured on this sheet, it would have been hardly necessary to figure or refer to it at all.
THE END.
