Order Hymenomycetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate L. 



AGARICUS VARIABILIS, Persoon. 



Variable sessile Ac/aric. 

 Series Dermixus.' Sub-genus Crepidotus.^ 



Spec. Char. Agakicus variabilis. Pileus from half an inch to an inch broad, membranaceous, at first 

 hemispherical with a short stem, soon resupinate and then again reflexed, the stem becoming quite obsolete, white, 

 covered with silky down ; sometimes there is no stem at first, but the pileus is resupinate from the earliest stage of 

 growth. GiUs white, changing to reddish-white, with a buflf tinge. Spores iiisty-pink. 

 Agaricus variabilis, Persoon, Fries, Berkeley, Greville. 



niveus, Sowerby. 



sessilis, BulUard, Witheriny. 



Huh. On sticks, stalks, and leaves in woods and hedges, more or less the whole year. Common. 



There are several Agarics which begin life as tliis does ; first turning down^ then facing upwards till 

 they lie on the back (resupinate) and ultimately curling over dowaiwards again, in old age and a state of 

 collajjse. We have selected Ayaricus variabilis as an example, because it may easily be recognised, and is 

 not uncommon ; it affects particular districts however, as many funguses do. Withering says, he saw it for 

 the fii'st time " sent out of Bucks " to Edgebaston near Birmingham, where he resided ; and we may 

 conclude it was scarce in his own particular district, or it would not have eluded so industrious an inves- 

 tigator. Although in Bucks it may be found in every hedge, in Kent it is not frequently met with. It is 

 a very delicate pretty little thing. Mr. Berkeley notices that the cellular tissue is a beautiful microscopic 

 object, but requiring a liigh power. The change in the colour of the gUls is of course owing to the ripening 

 of the spores, wliich are a buff pink colour ; tliis will effectually distinguish it from A. stypticm ; and that, 

 moreover, is of a uniform buff hue ; attention to the spores will prevent its being confounded with any 

 other member of the subgenus PleurojJios to which A. stypticus Ijelongs, that being a class under Leu- 

 cosporus, which it seems almost impertinent to repeat so often, means having wliite spores or dust. Of the 

 members of its own family, Crepidotus, wliich being under Derminus have coloured spores, ferruginous, 

 reddish, &c., none appears likely to be mistaken for it ; A. rubi grows on sticks, particularly as its name 

 imports on the bramble, but the pileus is yellowish livid grey not snowy white, and the gills are darker. 



A. mollis has umber gills, and is of a very watery substance at first. A. panuoides has yellow gills, 

 and a pileus tinged with violet, it is also very much larger. These are all the resupinate and side-footed 



' From bepfia, skin or membrane. Veil not arachnoid. Spores ferruginous. 



- From KprjirU, a slipper, and oSs, an ear. Veil vei-y thin, fibrillose. Pileus unecjual, excentric or lateral. Gills 

 unequal, changing colour. Spores subferruginous, subargillaceous, or reddish. 



