Order Hymenomycetes. ' Tribe Pileati. 



Plate IV. 



CANTHAHELLUS' CIBARIUS, Fnes. 



Esculent Chanterelle. 



Ge?i. C/iar. Pileus furnished below with dichotomous radiating branched sub-parallel folds, not separable 

 from the flesh, sometimes anastomosing or obsolete. 



Spec. Char. C. cibaeius ; entu-e plant rich yolk-of-egg yellow, pileus fleshy, firm, smooth, sub-repand, lobed, de- 

 pressed, the margin vaulted, from one to four inches across ; folds tumid, distant ; stem solid, attenuated down- 

 wards ; spores pale oclu'c, nearly white. 



Canthaeellus cibarius. Fries, Berkeley, G-reville, Roqiies. 

 Agaricus CanthareUus, Linnmis, Schteffer, BulUard, Sowerhy. 

 Merulitjs Canthai-ellus, Witlier'my, Purton, Fersoon. 

 GiROLLE ordinah-e, Faulet. 



Hob. Borders of woods, particularly under oaks. 



Chanterelles were formerly classed with the Agarics, and at first may be mistaken by the inexperienced for 

 members of that genus, but very slight attention will show wherein they differ. In place of the gills, which 

 in Agarics resemble the plaits of a fan, a CanthareUus has folds, disposed in the same manner, but much 

 shallower, resembling veins, swelling out (tumid), instead of the sharp edge of the plaited gill; these folds 

 or veins moreover, are of the same substance as the stem and cap, you cannot pull them away without 

 tearing the flesh j whereas the gills of an Agaric are composed of a membrane distinct from the rest of the 

 plant. 



The CanthareUus cibarius is very irregular in form ; in a young state the margin of the pileus is rolled 

 in towards the stem, so as to resemble a turban ; as it expands, it becomes variously lobed, depressed in 

 the centre like a wine-glass (infundibuliform), the stem generally turned on one side by the unequal growth 

 of the pileus, but not truly excentric ; it is of one uniform hue, that of an orange apricot, and possesses the 

 delicious fragrance of that fruit, or of a ripe green-gage ; for this reason it is one of the esculent Funguses 

 most easily discriminated, and concernmg which there can be no uncertainty when once the collector has 

 formed its acquaintance, for no other variety of the genus has tliis peculiar scent ; nor indeed has any other 

 fungus been noticed to possess it. The cap, which becomes in a degree bleached by exposure to the air 

 is not viscid although perfectly bald and shinuig, tliis was once considered a sure difference between it and 

 C. anrantiacus, said to be dangerous ; but M. Klotzsch found specimens of that, in the Highlands, which 

 were smooth also, so tliis condition must not be depended upon to ensure the goodness of a Chanterelle, 

 although the converse, having a cloth-like nap (tomentose) or locks of cottony fleece (floccose) or scales 

 (squamose) must be instant signs of condemnation for the individual possessing them ; apart from esculent 



' From Kavdapos, a vase, or cup, — a shape the pileus often assumes. 



