Order Hymenomtcetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate XXXVIII. 



AGARICUS RACHODES, nuadini. 



Sha(j(jy Agaric. 

 Series Leucosporus. Subgenus Lepiota. 



Spec. Char. Agaricus rachodes. Subcoespitose. Pileus very large and robust, often ten inches across when 

 mature, at first extremely compact, firm, hemispherical or slightly elongated ; the epidermis quite entire, humid, 

 smooth, or rivulose, at length broken up into large persistent scales, except in the centre, which always retains 

 a portion entire, and is never umhonate ; beneath the scales the pileus is extremely shagg)-, llcsh-coloured or pinkish 

 streaked with browni. Flesh at first white, compact, and crisp, softening, but becoming leathery in age, nearly 

 juiceless, turning orange-red when cut. Gills ventricose, remote from the stem, terminating in a species of collar, 

 which encu-cles its apex ; watery white, turning dii'ty-red when bruised, very brittle. Spores white. Stem largely 

 but irregularly bulbous, cm-viug outwards, not carried throiujli the Jhsli to the epidermis ; having a well-defined 

 central channel which contains a filmy pith ; splitting longitudinally, quite smooth, Jree from any kind of markings, 

 but turning brownish after exposure to the air. Ring movable, fibrous (not cartilaginous), shaggy, rudely torn and 

 lacerated. Smell hot, a little resembling that of Solanum Dulcamara. Excellent for food. 

 Agaricus rachodes, Fittadini, Fries. 



Hab. In pastures, in rich black soil, after hea\'y rains. Autumn. 



There is a tendency, which appears to be unavoidable in writing biography, to worship the idol we set 

 up for the moment; to hide faults, to weaken aspersions, to place tlie character before the world in as 

 favourable a light as possible. Truth may be very ugly, but what of that ? it is our business to adorn it. 

 Did not the painter win all praise and much pelf who copied Venus and Apollo for all his sitters, after 

 faithful truth had nearly starved him ? And then there is something chivalrous in breaking a lance in 

 defence of the slandered. Even so, Vittadini has not only painted the gayest and cleanest of funguses ; all 

 in trim toilettes ; never speckled with mud, or torn and draggled as out-door garbs of even pretty Agarics 

 may be, — funguses that surely grew from velvet-pile carpets, not mossy ones, and have been drilled into 

 good carriage instead of loimging at ease. But he has tried hard to purify their reputations besides, 

 zealously taking up some bad causes, and arguing with legal subtlety in defence of " injured innocence :" 

 wolves in the guise of mutton are they notwithstanding all his pains. Is it not then extraordinary that, in 

 the present case, he should set down a very worthy individual, confessedly nearly a stranger to him, in terms 

 such as these ? — " Agaricus rachodes is made no use of among us, although it is true that it comes under 

 a section of funguses generally esteeuied innocent : it has no external characters wliich would induce us to 

 cook it ; the odour is displeasing, the flavour nauseous, and the colour of the flesh uninviting." Signer 

 Vittadini, who praised A. melleus ? Not even to try before you condemn, and although the dosing of the 



