270 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
"Fungusses they find are placed under in other publications.
"The imperfection of this Introduction will perhaps be of
"greater service to science in the end, than had it been a more
laboured and less imperfect undertaking; for in that case
"it might have prevented other persons, more capable of a
correct performance than the writer of it is, from undertaking
"a systematic arrangement of the order Fungi, a work very
"much wanted. Several vegetables which have been placed
"as of the order Algae, no doubt should be considered as Fungi ;
"some of the genus Byssus and Tremella, evidently are of that
"tribe.
"Some Fungusses, as the Common Mushroom, Agaricus
"campestris; the Champignon, Agaricus pratensis (Hudson),
"are commonly eaten in England, but whether they are to be
"considered as wholesome food may admit of a doubt. The
"many melancholy accidents which have happened, after
"eating some of the species, should serve as a caution to all
"persons who gather Mushrooms of any sort for food, lest they
"make a mistake. The following extract from Gerard's
"Herbal, an antient book on Botany, is much to the purpose :
"mentioning Fungusses, he observes, 'Fewe of them are good
'to be eaten, and most of them do suffocate and strangle the
'eater. Therefore, I giue my simple advice unto those that
"'loue such strange and newe fangled meates, to beware of
"'licking honie among thornes, least the sweetnes of the one
"'do not counteruaile the sharpnes and pricking of the other."1
"Of what species those were, which occasioned, a few years
"ago, the death of several persons in one family, at Mitcham,
''in Surrey, there seems to be a doubt; as it appeared there
"was more than one sort gathered and stewed. One of them
"was in some respects like the Champignon ; another very
"unlike it.
"Many Fungusses make their appearance soon after rain
''in woods and other places. Some few may be seen throughout
"the year, and, indeed, for several years together ; but the
"perennial species are, in comparison, very few. Those who
"are inclined to the study of them, may, in the autumnal
1 Cf. pratensibus optima fungis Natura est aliis male creditur—The medow mushrums
are in kind the best, It is ill trusting any of the rest. Gerard.