"The Morel is one of my greatest favourites, but this is not found in quantity except in calcareous districts. A few days since (April 21) I had a dozen for supper, the largest number I ever had at one time.
"The _Lycoperdon giganteum_ is also a great favourite with me, as it is, indeed, with all my acquaintances who have tried it. It has not the high aroma of some others, but it has a delicacy of flavour that makes it superior to any omelette I have ever eaten. It seems, furthermore, to be so digestible as to adapt it to the most delicate stomachs. This is the South Down of mushrooms.
"In this latitude (about 36 degrees) we can find good mushrooms for the table during nine or ten months of the year. Including _A. salignus_, which some are quite fond of, we can have them in every month, as this species comes out during any warm spell in winter. _A. campestris_ makes its appearance here as early as March, but is not in full crop until September. Several excellent species of the _Tricholoma_ group do not spring up until after frost sets in, and continue into December. Such is the case too with _Boletus collinitus_, which sometimes emerges from the earth frozen solid.
"These observations and experiences are confined chiefly to the Carolinas; though I presume, from casual observations elsewhere, and from information derived from correspondents in other States, that, making some allowance for difference of climate and length of seasons, what I have said is generally applicable to the whole country."
The following interesting paper from the Rev. J. D. La Touche was read at a meeting of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club:--
"It is said that at Rome, when a mortal is about to be raised to the dignity of sainthood, the precaution is taken of providing a 'devil's advocate,' who, by pointing out as strongly as he can all the faults of the candidate, secures the fair discussion of both sides of the question, and is a guarantee, moreover, that no unworthy aspirant to such exalted honours should be rashly admitted to them.
"On the present occasion I make bold to present myself in this unamiable capacity. No member, indeed, of this respected Club is seeking canonization, yet, a step not less important is contemplated in the enrolment of a hitherto despised and even abhorred member of the vegetable kingdom among the list of its edible products; indeed, some may consider such a step as of more importance to our race than the apotheosis of a peccant mortal; and therefore it would appear that, if in the one instance it is desirable that all the peccadilloes of the candidate should be exposed, _a fortiori_, it must be so in the other.