THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
251
The specimens collected during the day were arranged ou tables in a room in
the hotel, and named and labelled by the experts present.
Over 100 species were listed, including four new to the Forest Flora :—
Pleurotus columbinus
Hypholoma elaeodes
Clytophilus cancrinus
Russula densifolia
These were in addition to the species new to Britain, Collybia planipes,
obtained previously in the Forest, on September 24th.
The collection of specimens was very interesting and instructive, and it is a
pity that only one afternoon was available for the study of it.
Tea was taken at 5.30, and afterwards a meeting was held, the President, Mr.
F. W. Rudler, in the chair. The President congratulated those present on a fine
day, and very interesting meeting ; they had only to look on the tables, with
their wealth of specimens, to discover that the labours of their collectors had not
been made in vain.
Dr. Cooke made a few remarks on the species gathered together on the
tables, and then gave the following address on
EDIBLE FUNGI.
By M. C. COOKE, M.A., LL.D., A.L.S., &c.
Once again, and year by year, I think more seriously that it may be the last
time that I shall face the Essex Field Club at their Annual Foray. Friends may
flatter, and try to deceive, but at the same time they know, as well as I do, that
the time has come when the chances rapidly diminish. Hence it is best to make
the most of the present, and leave the future in "the lap of the gods !"
When asked what I should talk about on this occasion, I naturally replied
that as one phase of our multiform subject has come rather prominently into
notice during the past few weeks, I should confine myself to a few remarks on
"Edible Fungi."
I think I may venture, without undue egotism, to affirm that whatever I may
know theoretically, I do know practically more on this subject than any other
benighted islander of Great Britain, and possibly of Greater Britain. If I mistake
not, it is more than half a century since that I was deluded and ensnared into the
study of fungi through the stomach. I have heard it stated that if you want to
find away to a man's heart, you will have to approach it through the stomach.
Practically this is very true, for if I had never paid a visit to a farm house, and
been for a day or two in the company of an intelligent enthusiast, I might never
have gone beyond the ordinary knowledge of fungi, represented by the power to
distinguish a mushroom from a toadstool. On this memorable occasion I went
as an ignoramus ; but it was autumn, and I soon discovered the hobby of my host-
He produced a number of coloured drawings to my astonished gaze, and informed
me that all the fungi shown were good to eat. We strolled into a little wood
the next day, and collected enough of the Parasol Mushroom for a meal, and at
first, with some fear and trembling, I did eat and was filled. This first meal did
its work, and I became a Mycophagist—a fungus-eater. As a memorial of the
occasion the coloured figure of the "Parasol Mushroom," which was reproduced
in the first edition of my Plain and Easy Account of British Fungi was a
facsimile of the drawing, which proved to be the agent of my conversion from the
error of my ways, and led me into the track which my feet have trod for half a
century. Hence you will observe that I began the study of fungi, as so many