truffles suggest garlic: those of Burgundy are a little resinous: the Neapolitan specimens are redolent of sulphur: and in the Gard Department (France) they have an odour of musk. The English truffle is white, and best used in salads. Dr. Warton, Poet Laureate, 1750, said "Happy the grotto'ed hermit with his pulse, who wants no truffles." A Girton girl under examination described the tuber as a "sort of sea-anemone on land." When once dug up truffles soon [373] lose their perfume and aroma, so they are imported bedded in the very earth which produced them. The Earth Nut (_Bunium flexuosum_) is also catted Hog Nut, Pig Nut, Jur Nut, St. Anthony's Nut, Earth Chesnut, and Kipper Nut. Caliban says, in the Tempest, "I with my long nails-will dig thee Pig Nuts." They are an excellent diuretic, serving to stimulate the kidneys. Pliny talked of fungi in general as a great delicacy to be eaten with amber knives and a service of silver. But Seneca called them _voluptuaria venena_. The Russians take some which we think to be deleterious; but they first soak these in vinegar, which (adds Pliny), "being contrary to them neutralizes their dangerous qualities; also they are rendered still more safe if cooked with pear stalks; indeed it is good to eat pears immediately after all fungi." Almost every species except the common Mushroom is characterized by the majority of our countrymen as a toadstool; but this title really appertains to the large group bearing the subgeneric name of _Tricholoma_, which probably does not contain a single unwholesome species. Other rustic names given to this group are "Puckstools" and "Puckfists." They are further known as "Toad skeps" (toad's cap) in the Eastern counties. Puck, the mischievous king of the fairies, has been commonly identified with _pogge_, the toad, which was believed to sit upon most of the unwholesome fungi; and the _Champignon_ (or Paddock Stool) was said to owe its growth to "those wanton elves whose pastime is to make midnight mushrooms." One of the "toad stoo's" (the _Clathrus cancellatus_) is said to produce cancerous sores if handled too freely. It has an abominably disgusting odour, and is therefore named the "lattice stinkhorn." The toad was popularly thought to [374] impersonate the devil; and the toad-stool, pixie stool, or paddock stool was believed to spring from the devil's droppings. The word Mushroom may have been derived from the French _Moucheron_, or _Mousseron_, because of its growing among moss. The chief chemical constituents of wholesome Mushrooms are albuminoids, carbo-hydrates, fat, mineral matters, and water. When salted they yield what is known as catsup, or ketchup (from the Japanese _kitchap_). The second most edible fungus of this nature is the Parasol Mushroom (_Lepcota procera_).