94 EDIBLE AND POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 



sometimes splitting, but without any collar 

 or ring. It has a faint heavy odour, and 

 like many other of the pink-spored species, 

 decays rapidly. 



The other species, Agaricus fertilis, which 

 nearly poisoned Mr. Worthington Smith 

 and some of his family, is of about the 

 same size, and grows also in woods, but 

 the stem is somewhat scaly, and swollen 

 at the base. The pileus becomes flat, with 

 the edges turned down, and not upwards ; 

 it is moreover powdery or downy, and pallid 

 reddish. The gills are not so broad, and of 

 a dull flesh colour. It is seldom otherwise 

 than solitary, with a rather mealy smell. 

 We have always been suspicious of the pink- 

 spored species, but these two are evidently 

 deserving of something more than suspicion, 

 for they are veritably dangerous. 



