Miscellaneous. 475 



colour as the pileus, paler on the lower half, covered with the ochra- 

 ceous powder or slightly squamulose, the flesh white, yellowish 

 under the epidermis ; the portion of stalk within the veil is pale, a 

 very little fibrilose, but not powdered. Diameter of the pileus 

 3 inches ; height of the stem 5 inches, the diameter nearly an inch ; 

 breadth of the gills -^ths. From the woods at Anton's-hill, Septem- 

 ber 16, 1845. 



This truly magnificent agaric was ascertained satisfactorily to be 

 the Agaricus caperatus of * Fl. Dan.' t. 1675, by the Rev. M. J. 

 Berkeley, to whom a specimen was sent. It is not the Ag. caperatus 

 of the ■ English Flora,' nor the Ag. pudicus of Bulliard ; and is a 

 beautiful addition to the already extensive list of British species, for 

 which we are indebted to the researches of Miss Anne Hunter, an 

 honorary member of the Club. The spores, Mr. Berkeley says, are 

 very peculiar. " Its greatest peculiarity," says Miss Anne Hunter, "is 

 its being so profusely covered over its pileus, curtain and stem with 

 a yellowish powder, in such quantities as to make it disagreeable to 

 gather, as gloves and everything it came in contact with was covered. 

 And I am much struck with the toughness and permanency of the 

 curtain, which remains after the pileus has attained its full size." 



When small and young the pileus is obtusely campanulate, but in 

 other respects it does not differ from the mature plant. Miss Hunter 

 has found it on one spot only in the wood behind the house of An- 

 ton's-hill, and there sparingly. Like most of its genus it is eaten 

 greedily by slugs and the maggot of a dipterous fly ; and it seems to 

 be, says Miss Hunter, " a most favourite food of a sort of beetle," 

 which permits very few specimens to attain maturity without great 

 mutilation. — From the Transactions of the Berwickshire Naturalists' 

 Club, vol. ii. p. 174. 



Description of a new British Sponge. By Dr. Johnstox. 

 Halichondria macularis. 



Sponge forming a thin circular spot one or two lines in thickness, 

 and rather more than an inch in diameter, of a wax-yellow colour, 

 spongeous texture, but not reticular, and soft when recent ; the sur- 

 face even, somewhat hirsute, with pores invisible or scarcely visible 

 to the naked eye, and no fecal orifices. Spicula numerous, long 

 and straight, needle-shaped, smooth ; they are all alike in figure and 

 do not much differ in length. 



This is amongst the least attractive of its genus. The only spe- 

 cies to which it is closely allied is the Halichondria sanguinea, from 

 which it is distinguished by its colour and less fleshy texture, and 

 by the straightness of the spicula. These are remarkable for their 

 length ; and the obtuse head is very slightly sinuated a little below 

 the extremity, but it requires a high magnifier to discover this cha- 

 racter. 



This new species was found spreading, lichen-like, on the inner 

 surface of an old valve of Cyprina islandica, which was brought up, 

 from a depth of about thirty-five fathoms, by the baited lines of our 

 fishermen. — Ibid. p. 196. 



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