I think I was once poisoned by it in Bedfordshire. I well remember, on my way home late one evening, gathering a quantity of champignons for supper; and as it was dark, I imagine I must have gathered both species. I did not cook them myself, neither did I examine them after they were taken from the basket; but I noticed at supper-time that they were unusually hot, and I thought the old woman who cooked them had put too much pepper into the stew. I never suspected the fungi. In about half an hour after partaking of them my head began to ache, my brain to swim, and my throat and stomach to burn, as if in contact with fire. After being ill for some hours, a terrible fit of purging and vomiting set in, which appeared soon to set me to rights; for after a day or so I was no worse for it. =Fetid Wood-Witch.= Fig. 31. (_Phallus impudicus._) 914. This is a great ornament to our woods, but its truly horrible effluvia beggars description; the nasal organs detect its presence at a long distance, and when neared the loathsome odour is indescribably revolting. Flies, however, appear to highly relish it; for these _Phalli_ are invariably covered with flies, who greedily devour the odorous and liquid repast found at the top of the stem. It is most abundant at woody places in the north of London, all through the summer till the late autumn. Had not this species really been eaten, with several other singular, offensive, and dangerous fungi figured on this sheet, it would have been hardly necessary to figure or refer to it at all. THE END. End of Project Gutenberg's Mushroom and Toadstools, by Worthington G. Smith