embraces two varieties of A. cj/atkiformis: we have given it as it stands, because our subject appears 

 to be intermediate between the two ; indeed, in the same pasture we have found numbers differing in 

 every gradation of the scale between the major and minor extremes of our dowdy friend. " Sonlidus " 

 Dickson called it, but that is a harsh term ; taken in the primary sense it is inapplicable, — the worst you can 

 say of the poor fungus is, that it is dull and dingy-looking, but "dirty" it is not, much less "gross" or 

 " foul ;" and in the other senses of " sonUdus," one might almost as well call the poor soulless vegetable 

 wicked. We are great sticklers for the proper application of language, loving dearly our mother English, 

 which is often used vaguely and improperly, owing to a neglect of the exact meaning of words. Crabbe's 

 ' Dictionary of Synonymes ' should be given to all young people, and kept at their elbow when writing. 



Agaricus cyatliiformis is now removed from the class Omphalia, where it stands in the ' Flora ' volume, 

 to Clitocyhe, sub-division Ci/atJdformes, because the gills are not truly decurrent, as in OiiipJialia, but take 

 that appearance in age, from the fungus becoming deeply infundibuhform. This division of Agarics absorb 

 moisture in wet weather, and thus become many shades darker than in their dry state ; the texture, also, 

 is rendered nearly gelatinous by the "water-imbiber"' taking in its full draught, though almost coriaceous 

 when quite dry weather. 



' "Pilaus vera hygrophanus." 



