of such tree parasites as are fain to mould themselves at the will of their entertainer (the fate of parasites, whether under oak or mahogany), mention may be made of two, of which the forms are at once singular and constant; one exactly like an ear, and given for some good reason to Judas (_Auricula Judæ_), clings to several trees, and trembles when you touch it; the other, which lolls out from the bark of chestnut-trees (_Lingua di Castagna_), is so like a tongue in shape and general appearance,[33] that in the days of enchanted trees you would not have cut it off to pickle or to eat on any account, lest the knight to whom it belonged should afterwards come to claim it of you. The above are amongst the most remarkable of the many Protean forms assumed by funguses; as to their colours, we find in one genus only species which correspond to every hue! The _Agaricus Cæsareus_, the _A. muscarius_, the _A. sanguineus_, assume the imperial purple, the _A. violaceus_ a beautiful violet, the _A. sulphureus_ a bright yellow, the _A. adustus_ a dingy black, the _A. exquisitus_, and many others, a milk-white; whilst the _A. virescens_ takes that which, in this class of plants, is the rarest of all to meet with, a pale-green colour. The upper surface of some is zoned with concentric circles of different hues; sometimes it is spotted, at other times of a uniform tint. The bonnets of some shine as if they were sprinkled with _mica_;[34] these have a rich velvety, those a smooth kid-like covering stretched over them. Some _pilei_ are imbricated with brown scales, some flocked with white shreds of membrane, and some are stained with various-coloured milks secreted from within. The consistence of funguses is very different according to their sort, and the epithets of woody, corky, leathery, spongy, fleshy, gelatinous, pulpy, or mucous, will all find fitting application to some of them. Occasionally a fungus is secreted soft, but hardens by degrees into a compact and woody texture. ODOURS AND TASTES.