“But as under your guidance and assistance my knowledge of fungi increased, a confidence in my ability to discriminate species grew up with it, and a curiosity to test the qualities of these much-lauded articles got the better of timidity; and now, I suppose, I can safely say, that I have eaten a greater variety of mushrooms than anyone on the American continent. I have even introduced several species before untried and unknown. From the beginning of my experiments, however, I have exercised great caution, even with species long recognised as safe and wholesome. In every case I began with only a single mouthful. No ill effect following, I made a second essay upon two or three mouthfuls, and so on gradually until I made a full meal of them. Fortunately, I have never blundered upon any kind that was mischievous, although I have eaten freely of forty species. This is due, perhaps, to my general acquaintance with species that have been long used in Europe, and hence I have made no experiments upon new species which had not some affinity or analogy with them. “For instance, _A. campestris_ and _A. arvensis_ being wholesome, I did not doubt but that _A. amygdalinus_ (a new species closely allied to _A. arvensis_) might be safely attempted, and it has proved equally safe and palatable. Indeed, this may be regarded as the safest of all species for gathering, as it can be discriminated from all others even by a child or a blind person. Its taste and odour are so very like those of peach kernels or bitter almonds, that almost invariably the resemblance is immediately mentioned by those who taste it crude for the first time. This flavour is lost by cooking, unless the mushroom be underdone. When thoroughly cooked I cannot myself distinguish it from _A. campestris_. One or two persons have expressed the opinion that they can distinguish it, and that it is not quite so good. Others, again, are equally positive that it is better. In the crude state I deem it the most palatable of all mushrooms, as it leaves a very agreeable aftertaste upon the palate, fully equal to that of almonds. This is the thing I sent you some years since for cultivation, but which failed to grow. I very much wish it might be propagated in England, so that we might ascertain whether it would undergo any change of qualities in a different soil and climate. I have for some time been entertaining the suspicion that such is the case with many of our species. Thus, in European books the Morel is described as possessing a peculiar flavour, that has given its name to the Morello cherry. I can detect nothing of the sort in our morel. You speak of _A. Cæsareus_ (in _Introd. Crypt. Bot._) as being ‘perhaps the most delicious of all fungi.’ This grows in great quantities in our oak-forests, and may be obtained by the cartload in its season; but to my taste, and that of all my family, it is the most unpalatable of all our fungi, nor can I find many of our most