Order Hymen omycetes. \V'-' ■ ' Tribe Pileati. 



Plate I. 



AGARICUS CYATHIFORMIS, Buiiiard. 



Late Ctip-sJiaped Agaric. 

 Series Letjcosporus. Sub-genus Clitocybe.^ 



Spec. Char. A. cyathifoemis. Pileus often two inches aud a half broad, sub-caruose, more or less inftmdi- 

 Imliform, the margin reflexed ; even, smooth, blaekish umber, with sometimes a shade of red; of a moist unctuous 

 appearance, but not the least viscid ; pellucid when moist, nearly white when diy. Gills rather distant, cinereous, 

 adnate when young, apparently but not truly decurrent, on account of the form of the pileus. Stem from two to 

 three inches and a half long, half an inch thick at the base, attenuated upwards, tough, elastic, sub-fibriUose, at 

 length hollow. A small variety occurs, not an inch broad, agreeing in colour, but the gills are almost ventricose 

 and more distant, the stem more nearly equal, the margin more crisped. Both, when young, are convex, and not 

 truly umbilicate ; in the true form there is a minute umbo. The giUs are not then the least decurrent. In 

 A. cyalJdformis the gills are sub-ascending, rounded behind ; in the variety sub-ventricose, horizontal, and adnate 

 with a tooth ; in the one of a cinereous, in the other of an umber tint. 

 AoAaicus cyathiformis, BulUard, Fries, Berkeley, Greville. 



sordidus, Dickson, Bolton, Sowerby, TFitkering, 



tardus, Persoon. 



— oj'athoides, Bolton. 



Hah. Pastures and woods among grass ; common. 



There is some elegance of form in this Agaric, but tlie sombre colour does not recommend it, and, 

 altliougli not viscid, the surface gives the idea that it would sticlc to the fingers and soil them ; it is not, 

 like many truly ugly members of the tribe, possessed of virtues which more than counterbalance the lack 

 of external show ; but then it does not seduce under false colours ; it will not distress your olfactories 

 with the worst of odours, like the elegantly -garbed Agarlcus sulphireus, nor burn the imprudent tongue 

 in the torturing manner A. torminosus does. Inodorous, innocuous, insipid, insignificant if you please, 

 it may be asked, why figure it ? Because a lai'ge number of students are assisted better by a famihar 

 common subject than by the scarce treasure, seen once in a life-time, and which research may never place 

 before the eyes of more than a favoured few. 



The specific description, borrowed from our constant companion and guide, the ' English Flora,' 



' From kXi'to5, a steep or declivity, and Kv^r], a head, pointing to the shape of the pileus when young, in 

 contradistinction to Omphalia, in which the pileus when young is umbilicate. Veil none. Pileus convex when 

 young, not umbilicate ; at length often depressed or infuudibuliform. Gills unequal, juiceless, unchangeable, 

 tough, variously fixed or fi'ee. Spores white. 



