This article was downloaded by: [McGill University Library] On: 12 February 2015, At: 11:10 Publisher: Taylor & Francis Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Series 5 Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tnah11 V.—Notices of fungi in Greek and Latin authors Rev. William Houghton M.A. F.L.S. Published online: 07 Oct 2009. To cite this article: Rev. William Houghton M.A. F.L.S. (1885) V.—Notices of fungi in Greek and Latin authors , Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Series 5, 15:85, 22-49, DOI: 10.1080/00222938509459293 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222938509459293 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 11:10 12 February 2015 22 Rev, W. Houghton's Notices of Fungl through the very variable species Spo~qilla laeustrls and S., fragilis, in JIegenia fluviatills, in Heteromeffenia ar.qyro- s])erma and 1t. R~jcler[, and, lastly and most conspicuously, in Tube[la pem~sfflv'znica. The extremes in this last series differ so widely that they would hardly be taken to belong" to the same species; but the intermediate grades have all been col- lected largely from the same stream 7 and as a result several species named in this and other cases have relapsed into synonyms. ¥.--NoNces of Fu~9i in Gree]~ a~d Latin Authors. By the Rev. W:LLIAM ItOUaHTOZ% M.A., F.L.S. IT may perhaps interest some of the readers of ~The Annals and Magazine of Natural History' if I bring before them in a collected Ibm: all that I have been able to gather on the subject of fungi from the writings of the aneient Greeks and tlomans. I am not aware whether anything of this kind has been hitherto attempted by any English writer ; but in Ger- many Dr. H. O. Lenz, in his useful ~Botanik der alten Grieehen und RSmer ' (Goth% 1859), has collected together the scattered notices of fungi which appear in classical authors, and bas added footnotes containing his own observations. The late Dr. Badham, in his 'Treatise on the Eseulent Funguses of England' (London, 1863), gives a short account of their classical history ; but no systematic collection has 7 so far as I know 7 been b:therto made. Although 7 perhaps 7 the subject is not one of rely great importane% still it is one to which a certain degree of interest attaches itself both for the general reader and for the mycologist. The earliest Greek writer who takes any notice of fungi is Theophrastus (circ. B.c. 300) ; there is no allusion to these plants in the works of Homer and Hesiod. The word t~x~ indeed occurs in tIerodotus (iii. 61)7 but it there means the Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 11:10 12 February 2015 eap of the sheath of a sword~ from its conical or fungus-like form. Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. i. 17 § 11)speaks of the /~t;K~ and the t~Svov as having neither root~ stem (KavX~)~ branch 7 bud, leaf7 flower7 nor fruit, neither again bark, pith 7 fibres 7 nor veins; but in i. 5 7 §3 7 he speaks of the stem (~avX6~) of the ~6KV¢ as being of uniform structure or even- ness 7 without knots 7 !oriekles~ or divisions. In i. 6 7 § 5~ the " and 7epapetov (~cepavvtov) are mentioned as having no root. The /xfxvre~ in iii. 7 7 § 6~ are said to 6~ ~ree5 and LatS~ Aathors. 23 grow out of and near the roots of oaks and other trees. In his treatise on odours (~De Odoribus,' Frag. iv. 3~ ed. Schneider) Theophrastus notes that the/z&c~-re~ which grow in dung have no bad smell. This is all that Theophrastus has said concerning fungi~ and it is worth while to remark that this most ancient Greek writer~ who professedly dis- courses on plants~ has absolutely not left us ~nything suffi- ciently descriptive to enable us to know definitely what most of the above-named plants respectively denote. He seems to have taken it for granted that the people of his time knew what particular plants he was speaking of~ and that theretbre there was no need of particular definite description. We have to learn what fungi the Greek names realty denote by com- paring what Theophrastus has said with what other Greek and tloman writers have recorded. The question of identity of these names there%re shall wait until we have brought tbrward further evidence. Alter Theophrastus comes Nieander (B.c. circ. 185)~ a physician~ grammarian~ and poe b who wrote on various sub- jects ; but most of his works have been lost. His two poems) the ~ Theriaea ' and the ~ Alexipharmaea/in hexameter lines) have been preserved to us. In the first-mentioned poem Nieander discourses of venomous animals and the wounds inflicted by them ; there is nmeh absurd fable mixed up with his zoological remarks, and perhaps Hailer was not far wrong when he described this treatise of nearly a thousand hexa- meter lines as being "long% ineondita, et nullius fidei farrago." The ~Alexipharmaea/of about six hundred lines in the same metr% treats of poisons and their antidotes~ and is about as valuable as his other poem. His Greek is obscure and full of out-of-the-way words. Bentley~ with great truth~ called Nieander " antiquarium~ obsoleta et easea verba venantem~ et vel sui smeuli leetoribus diffieilem et obseurum." As Nieander is very seldom read and his works are in few private libraries~ it may be well to quote his lines on fungi as a sample of his style and diction :~ Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 11:10 12 February 2015 Mq ltev ~rI ~(4Lcolta tcaKov XdOVOff avcpa Kr}~o *rokXdK~ la& o-r~pvoLo'w dvotSEov~ 8Xkore ~' ,~yXo~,, e~O' {)n'b ~co~.e~ovra rpa~@ f~ad~v 6)tKbv ~Xi(3vrl~ ~.~v ?ZVtKIZaZvovO'rOlt[oJv r' dTrodp~k~ou ?t~Olta" KdVO KaK&, ~(;ltoJ#a, zb ~¢1 P' b~;owr~ ltfJKqra¢ rrol~rr;l~rlv, e'IkXco ",/~p ~n" off'volta K~Kptra~ ~X~.o- AXX~ o'v ~/ 7I pad2uvow rcopo~g ~Tretpo~ea Kop~r)v~ tjt,r~ KX~¢ovra 7r~p't crTrd6tra KOXO~ra~, ~ro~dK~ Ka'~ XakKoto 7rdkat lteltoyqdro¢ ~uO'Iv" ~kXorc Kkrlt~ardccr(rav iv' g~e'i ~p~zrr~o r~pprlv" 24 Rev. W. Houghton's Notices of Fungi X[rpov, ror~ dp{~Xkov ~ua~Sdl~evol, 7rpaut~ut Kap~atz[~o~, Mf?~Sv "re Ka'L ¢'tLrrp{ovra ulvrprvv. o-by ~ Ka'L o~,r}p~u dpXo'yt~ rp~ya "r~dpo~oo-ato ~ 7rdrou o"cpov¢o'io Ka~'ot~cd~o~"eK ~ '~ape~au XeTpa Ka"re~tzar~eo~,~p~yot ko)f~t~oua ~¢Opa.--Alexi])h. 521-536. "Let not the evil ferment of the earth, which often causes swellings in the belly or strictures in his throat~ distress a man; for when it has grown up under the viper's deep hollow track it gives forth the poison and hard breathing of its mouth ; an evil ferment is that; men generally call the ferment by the name of fungus (/~KW), but different kinds are distinguished by different names ; but do thou take the many-coated heads of the cabbag% or cut from around the twisting stems of the rue or old copper parLicles which have long accumulated, or pound clematis into dust with vinegar, then bruise the roots of pyrethrum~ adding a sprinkling of vinegar or soda, and the leaf of cress which grows in gardens, with the medic plant and pungent mustard, and burn wine- lees into ashes or the dung of the domestic fowl; then, putting your right finger inyour throat to make you sick~ vomit ibrth the baneful pest. The expression "evil ferment of the earth," to denote the general name of fungus represented by the Greek word/~b~c~/~, is, I think, peculiar to ~icander. The scholiast explains it in various ways~ which are unsatisfactory ; e.g. '~ he calls the /~t~c~ a ferment because it is like the ferment of the earth~ that is, clay, for it is like a clod of earth ; " or, '~ it is called a ferment because when undigested the fungus causes fermen- tation in tile bowels." Perhaps Nieander was referring to the white mass of myeelium from which the .plant grows ; and the term ferment for a fungus is not far amiss.