Order Hymenomycetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate XLI. 



AGARICUS EMETICUS, ^c/.^/... 



Series Leucosporus. Sub-genus Russula^ 



Spec. Char. Agariccs Emeticus, SohcEffer. Pileus from two to five inches broad; glutinous wJtile young, 

 compact, smoott, hemispherical, then plane and depressed in the centre ; sometimes irregularly bent and undulated 

 or compressed tUl nearly square ; margin thin, striato-sulcate ; purple, rose-red, blood-red, fuscous yeUow or nearly 

 white. Gills broad in front, narrower behind, rigid, thickish, connected by veins mostly equal with a few smaller 

 interspersed, always white. Spores white (not yellowish ochre). Stem from two to three inches high, longitutlinally 

 rugulose, firm, solid, white or tinged with the colour of the pileus. Extremely acrid and poisonous. 

 Agaricus emeticus, Schaffer, Berkeley, Vittadini. 



integer, Sowerby, Bolton. 



RussuLA rubra, Fries. 



Hah. On the borders of woods, and principally under old oaks ; from July tUl November. 



Few Agarics can boast so elegant a developement as tliis, whether the garb it selects for the nonce, be 

 of a lovely rose-colour, or pervaded with lilac having a changeable effect, or blotched like a striped Camellia, 

 with ricli crimson and white, according to the screen it has received from neighbouring plants in its growth. 

 Each of these various colours, at various times and places, adorns the pUeus, relieving it from the pure 

 white gills below : it gives no warning by its scent or by any other external circumstance of its deleterious 

 quality ; if the ignoramus should be tempted to taste, for a few moments all appears harmless, for it is 

 tardily acrid : but it fuUy makes up for the delay, as the tortured investigator, with burning lips and fauces, 

 and tearful eyes, seeks in vain for alleviation. If not swallowed, however, the effect shortly subsides ; it is 

 not an Agaric Likely to prove fatal, because the acrimony is not lost in cooking, and they who could eat 

 enough to harm themselves seriously, must have fire-proof palates. Vittadini, to be sure, tried the experiment 

 of eating them, although he found them most nauseous ; but tliis is a devotion to tlie cause that even the 

 scientific are not likely to imitate, much less the student, or mere amateur. Dr. Badham has taken 

 great pains to distinguish the various esculent Eussulse from the noxious ones ; it is a very difficult thing 

 for the experienced to pronounce upon some specimens even vritli close investigation, so we can only 

 say to the iirexperienced, study the Russulse as much as possible, but never trust your own investigations, 

 however close they may be, so far as to have a dish of them dressed without testing every one by masticating 



' A name formed by Scopoli from nissulus, red ; veil none ; stem smooth, spongy within. Pileus with a 

 fleshy disc, and thin margin, which is not inflexed at any period of growth. Gills juiceless, either all equal, or with 

 a few shorter intermixed or forked, rigid, brittle, broad in front, narrow behind, acute, properly free, but apparently 

 adnato-decurrent from the ditt'usiou of the stem into the pileus. Spores white or sub-ochraceous. Gills white or 

 yellow. Large or middle sized Fungi, rigid, persistent, solitary, growing on the ground. 



