Order Hymenomycetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate XLII. 



AGARICUS MAMMOSUS, boUou. 



Umbonate Bose-f/illed Acjaric. 

 Series Hyporhodeus. Subgenus Clitopilus. 



Spec. Char. Agaeicus J[ammosus. Pileus from two to three inches broad ; at first strongly umbonnte, less 

 so when fuUy expanded, in-egular, lobed, often splitting; in extreme youth nearly black, but growing pale in age; 

 umber or greyish-brown ; nearly smooth, shining, the epidermis streaked with an adpressed sericeous coating under 

 a lens ; the apex always darkest, the umbo cracking so as to give the appearance of scales ; the margin compressed 

 and incurved at first, never entirely plane. Gills adnexed, or nearly free, but connected with the stem by a tooth, 

 ventricose, notched and waved, pallid till stained by the rose-coloured spores. Flesh white, crisp, brittle, at first 

 agreeable in flavour, then astringent ; smell like A. Georgii, but more fungoid. Stem tliree inches high, half an 

 inch thick, nearly equal, when yomig swollen at the base, fibrillose, firm, solid, dirty white, stained with the red 

 spores. 

 Agaricus mammosus, Bolton, Berkeleij. 



Hah. On hedge-banks, &c. Spring. Not esculent. 



If Fries has described this Agaric at all, we shall recognize it under the head A. pnnmloides of the 

 ' Epicrisis/ but it is to our English authority, Bolton, we must refer it. One of the earliest of the fungus 

 tribes to greet the searching Mycologist, a claim to attention on that ground alone wiU not be denied, 

 supposing it to possess no other merit. Our notes mention collecting it on the 9th of April from a sunny 

 hedge-bank, where the Veronica had not, as yet, opened its lovely blue " bird's eyes," as happy cliildren 

 call the spring gem, which they never fail to gather with delight, nor to grieve over as the delicate 

 blossoms drop off in the act. At the same vernal period, deep in the moss of the sheltered lawn, small 

 specimens of A. Georgii, the genuine Prunulus, ventured to peep forth without waiting for leave from 

 St. George ; but in the favourite valley where that excellent Agaric abovmds in due season, prudence pre- 

 vailed, and we could not find one. The first spring flowers are always greeted with affection, however 

 insignificant they may be in themselves. It is a source of pleasure to see the barren spot once more 

 decorated with that humble ornament, Draba verna, while even a Dead jVettle is hailed as an old friend. 

 Much more strongly, then, must the first Agaric appeal to the heart of the devoted Mycologist, simple and 

 valueless as it may be in itself; but yet — surely we are needlessly apologizing' — A. mammosus, although 

 we cannot use it in any way for the table (we did once make, ketchup fashion, some horrible stuff fi-om it, 

 tasting like the rankest radishes), is neither dowdy nor insignificant; every eye, guided by a tolerably well- 

 developed organ of colour, finds the contrast of brown and pink agreeable. Spores seldom play a pro- 



