attached to the stem, remain in purity ; they are very evanescent, the ring disappearing ahnost entirely, lost 

 and deliquescing in the moisture. In age, not only the wliite fragments of the ring and veil have dis- 

 appeared, but in general the shmy envelope also, remaining only in brownish films or fibrillse, and the whole 

 plant has become a dingy yellow, or is bleached to dirty white. The gills which at fust are paUid, rather hlac 

 in some cases, changing as the spores ripen, are eventually brown-purple. It must not be forgotten that 

 this changeable nature of the gills is caused in most instances by the spores acquiring maturity, and also that 

 the intrinsic colour of the spores themselves can only be ascertained by careful examination, when they have 

 been deposited on some proper medium ; for if the giU have a colour of its own, it will deceive the judgment 

 by shewing through the spores : for instance, the red-brown gill of the common Mushroom gives an effect 

 to the hj-menium, wliich is not the true shade of the spores ; they, when perfectly ripe, are not, as commonly 

 described, purple-hrmim, but on the faith of an artist's eye (whose organ of colour has not been perverted), 

 of a rich Vandyke-brown shade, not a particle of red or purple entering into its composition. 



The tinge of verdigris would deter all adventurous cooks from trjing the qualities of Agarims cerugi- 

 nosus, it is so connected with poisoning copper utensils, that unlucky green ! besides, the smeU like " rancid 

 ointment," gives an impression anjihing but provocative of an inclination to taste ; so as many persons are 

 resolute in beheving that toadstools are among the most unwholesome of Nature's productions, we will give 

 them leave to consider tliis one as bad as they please, hoping by sacrificing one unhappy scape-goat, to save 

 the rest of a tribe. 



