424: FUNGUS-FLOEA. 



Hj'iuenopliore not horny. 



A very distinct species, very sliowj', large, subcaespitosey 

 entirel}" whitisli tan-colonr ; without close affinities. Stem 

 solid, compact and firm inside and outside, 2 J in. long, 1-2 in. 

 thick, equal, even, glabrous. Pileus depressed from the first, 

 then broadly, i.e., plano-infundibuliform, thin but equally 

 fleshy, soft, not flaccid, but easily sj^litting from the margin 

 towards the centre (almost papery and involute when old), 

 upwards of a foot broad, often excentric and generally 

 sinuately lobed, moist and adpressedly downy when growing, 

 slightly flocculose and cracked into squamules when dry ; 

 margin at first very thin, involute, pubescent, soon 

 spreading, glabrous, at length re volute, coarsel}^ sulcate, or 

 radiatety rugose; gills slightly decurrent, closely crowded, 

 almost 3 lines broad (2-3 times as broad as thickness of 

 flesh of pileus), connected by veins, thin, fragile, straight^ 

 but sometimes varying to crisped and anastomosing, whitish 

 then yellowish or tinged with rafous, smell weak. (Fries.) 



Clitocybe maxima. Giirtn. & Mey. 



Pileus 6-lt in. and even a foot across, disc flesh}^ remainder 

 thin, rather flaccid, broadly infundibuliform, somewhat 

 umbonate, dr}', pale tan or whitish, surface becoming slightly 

 silky or downy, margin even ; gills deeply decurrent, rather 

 crowded, soft, whitish ; stem 3-4 in. long, 1 in. thick, 

 attenuated upwards, fibrillose, whitish, solid; spores 6 x4/x. 



Agaricvs mciximm, Qjirtn. and Mej'er, Fl. AVett., p. 329 ; 

 Cke., Hdbk,, p. 53; Cke., lllustr., pi. 135. 



Woods and pastures. 



From the large size and colour, often confounded with 

 CI. gifjanteus, with Avhicli the present is not truly allied. 

 Much larger than CI. infundibuliformis. Stem solid, compact, 

 but spongy within, elastic up to 4 in. long and 1 in. thick, 

 attenuated upwards, fibrillo^ely striate, whitish. Pileus- 

 fleshy, disc compact, remainder thin, rather flaccid, not 

 splitting as in CI. giganteus, broadly infundibuliform, umbo 

 central, gibbous, up to 1 foot across, always very dry, hence 

 the surface is silky and almost even or squamulose, pale tan- 

 '•oiour or whitisli ; margin involute, pubescent, always even. 

 Flesh white, at length soft. Gills deeply decurrent, acu- 

 minate at both ends, somewhat crow^ded, soft, simple, whitish, 



