INTRODUCTION. vii. 



These may be white ' pale-rose^, reddish orchre, ferruginous or brown-pui'ple ; by these tints, 

 the plant is ascertained to belong to a particular series ; if you can afford to sacrifice the speci- 

 men, cut the stem clean away from the pUeus with your long scissors, and place it, gills 

 downwards, upon a watch-glass, you will procure a most lovely pattern of the gills formed by 

 the fallen spores, and may afterwards reverse the watch-glass, gumming its edge down 

 upon a piece of card, upon which to inscribe the name, as well as to protect the contents, 

 and thus form a cabinet of spores for reference. Watch-glasses are not dear if bought by 

 the gross. To return to om* Agaric ; however we may have obtained the spores, they are 

 white, then we have determined point the second, and our researches to fix upon the individual 

 must be restricted to the series with white dust, Leucosporus. 



There are twelve species under Leucosj)orus, and a little practice will give the power of 

 referring an Agaric to its proper place. If on breaking it, milky di'ops form, it belongs 

 undoubtedly to Galorrheus (from •yaXa milk and piw iofow), and we have only to compare it 

 with the members of that class, to find its name ; if the veil which covers the gills in a 

 young state, is like a spider's web, it will probably belong to TricJioloma (from 6pl^ a hair, and 

 \(Syu.a a fringe) ; if it have a striking characteristic, the ring well developed, and no volva, it 

 is under Armillaria, (from armilla a ring) and so on ; and if it had a volva or universal veil ? 

 great care must be taken to ascertain this by removing the soil carefully from the root, for 

 sometimes an Agaric has, sometimes has not this appendage, and when it has, it is possibly 

 hidden among the grass roots. This volva is a white purse-like membrane, thrown over the 

 head of the young plant, and drawn in quite below the root in its most perfect form, Fig. A ; 

 afterwards the head of the pileus bursts through it in its upward growth, part of the volva still 

 adhering to it in patches or warts, and part remaining sheathing the stem like the calyx of a 

 flower — and here it is, our plant has a decided volva, B. It has too an inner veil, attached 

 to the margin of the pileus and also to the stem, covering the gills. Now point the third is 

 determined, for it is the subgenus of Leiicosporus, Amanita, which has two veils, a universal 

 veil (volva) distinct from the epidermis,^ and a partial veil, for so this membrane which at first 

 was attached to the edge of the pileus, B., as well as to the stem, completely covering the gills, 



' Among the wldte are one or two buff and one pale pinkish-purple ; among the brown-purple, a few quite 

 black ; but these trifling exceptions do not aifect the general classification. 



* This colour is not a pink-rose, but a diluted vermilion. 



•* Lepiola has a universal veil, but it is confluent with the epidermis, attached to it in the form of scales, &c., 

 except one portion which forms the ring ; whereas, in Amanita, the ring is part of the inner veil, and not connected 

 at all with the outer one. 



