Order Hymenomycetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate XLVII. 



les. 



AGARICUS PRUNULUS, i^. 



Autumnal Prunulus. 



Series Hyporhodeus. Subgenus Clitopiltjs. 



Spec. Char. Agakicus Prunulus. Pileus from an inch and a half to two inches and a half across, pniinose, 

 dry, pallid mouse-colour, firm, fleshy, compact, at first regularly convex or broadly umbonate, afterwards slightly 

 depressed, seldom repand ; margin at first inroUed, never thoroughly expanded. Gills very regular, distant, 

 somewhat decurrent, and appearing still more so from the dift'usion of the stem into the pileus ; dusky white, but 

 turning colour by the ripening of the rose-coloured spores. Stem nearly equal or slightly ventricose, striate, solid. 

 Flesh white, odour agreeable of floui-, like A. Georgii ; esculent. 

 Agaricus Prunulus, Fries. 

 Sowerbei, Krombholz. 



Hah. At the same autumnal period as A. orcellus, under trees in woodland sites ; seldom solitary, grouped in 

 twos and threes — not in rings. 



Insignificant as this simple quiet Agaric may appear, it is in reality extremely interesting ; being 

 nearly allied to the genuine A. orcellm of authors, and yet differing from it, a confusion has arisen among 

 the synonyms, which it is a pleasure to disentangle only to be appreciated by those whose patient tidy 

 fingers have released a complicated skein of thread from bewildering involvement. The drawing, 

 numbered 143, A. pall'ulm of Sowerby, which Krombholz supposes to be the same as tins nearly-related 

 Agaric, is not so, but is the true A. orcellus ; it is, therefore, an error on liis part to call the Agaric 

 depicted in his plate " Sowerbei ;" but the portrait, save in colour, is a correct one of our present subject. 



Vittadini could not have seen the ' Epicrisis,' when he states that Fries identifies A. Prunulus with 

 the Orcellus proper ; for in the subdivision Orcelli of the Swedish author, A. Prumdus stands first, 

 A. orcellus second, as perfectly distinct species. Growing at the same season, late summer and autumn, 

 when heavy storms and sunshine alternate and soften the soil, these kindred Agarics may often be found 

 near neighbours to each other, and a mistake between them will be of slight importance to any but the 

 student, as both are esculent. Agaricus orcellus often grows in large rings, which A. Prunulus does not, 

 as far as our observation extends. The latter is much more compact, hard, and firm ; and its gills are 

 regular, not branched, and running down Uke a Cantharellus, which is the case with those of the lobed, 

 repand forms of A. orcellus. The peculiar scent of cucumber is wanting to A. Prunulus, which resembles 



