Order Hymenomycetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate YIII. 



AGARICUS SQUAUROSUS, M. 



Series Derminus.^ 



Spores feiTuginous : veil uot arachnoid. 



Sub-genus Pholiota.^ 



Snh-fjen. Char. Pholiota; veil dry, forming a ring ■wliich is sometimes membranaceous, sometimes radiato- 

 floccose. Stem more or less scaly. Pileus convex, at length more or less plane, not umbilicate. GUIs unequal, 

 juiceless, changing colour. Spores femigiaous or fulvo-ferruginous. 



Spec. Char. Ag. sarAEROSUS ; caespitose, pileus fleshy, dry, bright femiginous-saffron or tawny yellow ; scales 

 close, revolute ; gilh paUid olive then ferruginous, broad, adnate or subdecurrent ; stem squarrose, attenuated below 

 pithy in the centre ; covered with reflexed scales below the ring, abo\'e it smooth and pale. 



Agaeicus squarrosus, MiiUer, Persoon, Fries, Berkeley. 



floccosus, Sclueffer, Sowerhy, Purton, &reville. 



La coulemeUe herissee, Paulet. 



Hub. In dense tufts on, or at the root, of trees ; autumn. 



Those mclanclioly persons in wlioni Funguses produce disgust, would feel an instinctive dread of the 

 one now represented ; thrusting forth a snaky mass of heads fi'om the stump of a decaying tree, with strange 

 flexuous serpentine stems, and bristling scaly coat, it is a decidedly repulsive individual. Tasso's description 

 of the serpent which attempted to deter Charles and Hubert from their cjuest of Einaldo, in the enchanted 

 island of Armida, may be applied very appropriately to the Agaric we are now considering. 



" Ma esce, non so donde e s'attraversa 

 Fiera serpeudo on-ibile, e diversa. 



Innalza d'oro squallido squamosa 



Le creste, e'l capo ; e gonfia il collo d'ira : 



***** 



***** 

 Or rientra in se stessa, or le nodose 

 Kote distende, e se dopo se tira." 



La Gerusalemme Liberata, Canto XV. 47. 



Sm-ely tliis is as fit associate for witches, bats, and owls, as any of its brethren can be, and its " very 

 ancient and fish-like smell," by no means improves the impression received through the sight. It grows at 

 the root of ancient trees in general, though sometimes liigher up in the cavities of the decaj-ing trmiks. 

 From one central point a tuft of stems proceeds, united at the base, where they are attenuated and compressed 

 into a very dense mass ; as the plant extends, they become variously bent from their direct course of growth, 



' From bipfia, skin, or membrane. ^ From ^oXW, a scale. 



