Rev. M.J. Berkeley on British Fungi. 341 



*260. Agaricus blandus, Berk. = Ag. brevipes, Bull., Kl. in Fl. 

 Reg. Bor. t. 374. My plant is a long- stemmed variety of the spe- 

 cies figured by Bulliard. Klotzsch^s figure is very characteristic, 



*261. Ag. murinaceus, Bull. t. 520; Sow. t. 106. King's Cliffe, 

 Sept. 10, 1841. 



Pileus 4i inches across, at first campanulate, slightly umbo- 

 nate, then expanded, thin, firm, but very brittle, mouse-coloured, 

 cracked and virgate, silky, not the least viscid ; flesh white. Taste 

 bitter, unpleasant, rather acrid. Smell neither powerful nor ni- 

 trous. Stem 3 inches high, 1 inch thick at the top, cracked and 

 streaked, silky, with minute black scales, solid but fibrous, not the 

 least stuffed or hollow. Gills very broad, undulate, distant, ha- 

 ving a tendency to become forked and anastomosing, brittle, often 

 marked with raised lines, cinereous, powdery ; interstices slightly 

 veined ; edge at length black. Individuals occur much thicker 

 and larger. 



Having at length found this species, I am able to state posi- 

 tively that it is not the plant of Fries. The specific name refers 

 to the colour, not to the scent, which is very slight and by no 

 means nitrous. It is not at all moist or viscid, but has a clothy 

 feel, being virgate and silky. The gills are not olivaceous when 

 rubbed. Its affinities are rather with Ag. argyraceus than with 

 Hygrophorus. 



262. Ag. ovinus, Fr. Syst. Myc. vol. i. p. 109. In pastures, 

 Apethorpe. Not so frequent as Ag. cuneifoUus. 



263. Ag. platyphyllus, P., Fr. Syst. Myc. vol. i. p. 117. Ag. 

 grammocephaluSj Bull. t. 594. On the ground in woods, like Bul- 

 liard's plant, not on wood like that of Fries. King's Cliffe, Sep- 

 tember 6, 1841. 



Pileus 5 inches or more across, smooth, hygrophanous, ex- 

 panded, with a broad umbo, sinuated and undulate ; thin except 

 in the centre ; umber shaded with bistre, more or less virgate, 

 but by no means silky, though it has a sleek shining aspect, like 

 that of Ag. rhodopolius ; flesh brownish beneath the subcartila- 

 ginous cuticle, but in other parts firm and white. Stem 2|^ inches 

 high, ^th of an inch thick, nearly equal, obtuse, stringy, slightly 

 twisted, streaked, smooth, not rooting in my specimens. Gills 

 broad, truncato-adnexed, at first white, at length pallid, distant. 

 Smell, like that of Ag. grammopodius, strong; taste not un- 

 pleasant. 



There is no reason to doubt that this species is the Ag. platy- 

 phyllus of Fries, notwithstanding the difference in the habitat. It 

 is exactly the plant of Bulliard, which, like mine, is terrestrial. 



264. Ag. elixus, Sow. t. 172. Pileo obconico umbonato de- 

 mum explanato fuligineo, sericeo minutissime virgato; stipite 

 deorsum incrassato concolore depresso-pubescente ; lamellis an- 



