222 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
general experience in all parts of England he had visited—and even in France,
Messrs. Plowright and Phillips, on a late visit to Paris, found that so far as the
mycological harvest went, they might just as well have staid at home—fungi were
as scarce this year on the Continent as in England, and Epping Forest was only
one of many generally productive localities which had failed to furnish forth the
usual harvest of specimens. Dr. Cooke referred to the results of the two days'
explorations, and to those of the meeting of the Hackney Society, given above,
and then went on to say that one result of these annual forays was that the general
press had begun to take notice of their proceedings. In the "Standard" for Sept.
19th a leading article dealt with the gastronomic aspect of fungus hunting, the
writer dwelling upon the comparative ease with which the poisonous and edible
species could be discriminated :—" In England we use so few kinds that it
is remarkable how anyone living in the country, or indeed anywhere else, fails to
master the trifling knowledge which would enable even a child to distinguish the
good from the indifferent or the actually dangerous species. On the Continent many
others are sold and eaten by all classes, which in these islands are known only to
the experts who try experiments with their digestions at the annual dinner of the
Woolhope Club, or its rivals organized by the fungus foragers of the Scottish
Cryptogamic Society, or the Essex Naturalists, whose autumn hunt in Epping
Forest is due next month." The members had been told a good deal in years
past of the pleasures and dangers of fungus eating, but no attempt had yet been
made at their annual gatherings to reduce theory to practice; the remarks in the
"Standard" might well be read as a hint that the Essex Field Club's foray should
develop from a simple mycological to a practical mycophalogical meeting. An
effort should be made to provide in future years a dish or two of edible fungi, so
that the members could test practically their merits as food. If fungi were
plentiful next season, he would propose that the experiment should be tried, and
he would undertake to examine the raw material and see that no species in any
way dangerous were included in the feast. The Doctor was not prepared to
endorse his friend Mr. Bicknell's assertion that there were no such things as poisonous
fungi; but there were certainly not more than 20 or 25 species which could be
so designated, and the fungus-eater had a choice of at least 80 British species
which were perfectly wholesome. That, he thought, was enough, without
venturing to repeat Mr. Bicknell's gastronomical experiments with such species
as Lactarius piperatus. Boletus luridus or Agaracus muscarius. Persons in
their first essays as mycophagists should bear in mind that each fungus had a
distinct odour and flavour, and were not all like the common mushroom; even
mushrooms varied much in these particulars, and there was often great difference
in flavour between the wild and cultivated samples.
During his address Dr. Cooke also alluded to the preliminary list of the
microscopic fungi of Essex which had recently appeared in the Essex
Naturalist (vol i., 184). In preparing it he had made full use of the Kew
Herbarium of that of the late Rev. M. J. Berkeley, and of his own herbarium. He
was fully aware that the list was a very small one, and, moreover, very imperfect,
but it included all the reliable records of the two groups Ustilaginei and
Aecidiomycetes in his possession at the date of publication. This could with
truth be said of it, that the list was correct as far as it went. Additions could
easily be made as further species were found; and he hoped that botanists in
Essex would do all in their power to show the imperfections of his tentative list
by largely increasing the stock of authentic material upon which such a catalogue