One of the funniest anecdotes about the deceased J.D. Salinger came from John Seabrook and was published in last week’s New Yorker: “Jerry had an encyclopedic knowledge of mushrooms, and often traveled under the alias Mr. Boletus, which was one of his favorite varieties.”

It’s possible that J.D. Salinger was an amateur mycologist.

What other explanation can there be for traveling under the alias Mr. Boletus? If you really would like to go unnoticed you would opt for Mr. Johnson, Mr. Smith, Mr. Peterson or Mr. Charleston, to name just a few other aliases I like to travel under.