Order Hymenomtcetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate LV. 



AGARICUS MICACEUS, var,M^a^ 



Mica Agaric. 

 Series Pratella.' Sub-genus Coprinus.^ 



Gen. Char. A. jiicaceus. Csespitose. Pileus from three quarters of an inch to an inch or more Inroad, half- 

 ovate, often more or less irregnlar from the dense mode of gi-o\vth, membranaceous, strongly striate, almost plicate, 

 squamuloso-furfiuraceous, sprinkled with glittering meal, rufous, the umbo darkest, the margin cinereous, very thin ; 

 veU veiy fugacious. GUIs attenuated in front, broad behind, ascending, attached above, at first pale, then umber, 

 mottled with the dark brown-black spores. Stem two or three inches or more high, two lines thick, equal, hollow, 

 brittle, squamuloso-pulverulent, the epidermis often cracked into little^cales, very faintly tinged with red, attenuated 

 upwards, the base downy, and sometimes assuming the appearance of a volva. 

 Agaricus micaceus. Fries, Berkeley, BulUarcl, Withering. 



congregatus, Soioerby, Purton, Withering. 



striatus, Bolton. 



Hah. Near the roots of trees, bottoms of posts, on lawns in gardens, eveiyvvhere extremely common. From 

 May to November. 



The variety of A. micaceus now given is the least common form of the commonest of Agarics ; usually 

 it is shorter, more compact, not so strongly ribbed, and simply coloured with a uniform buff hazel tint ; 

 the specific characters given above are not to be found in every example, but are intended to embrace all 

 the many varieties to be found between the two extremes, which could scarcely be considered the same 

 species, if they were not united by a gradation of minute differences, while the main botanical characteristics 

 continue unaltered. As a family the dehquesoent Coprini are very distinct, but to discriminate individuals 

 requires care ; they are named from being for the most part produced, if not absolutely, upon dung, such 

 as old hot-beds, &c., yet in situations very strongly manured ; according to the richness of the materials 

 supporting it, a given species wiU be more or less luxuiiantly developed ; many are extremely unsubstantial, 

 fugacious, and fragile ; others although at first possessing weight and solidity, speedily expand into a loose 

 softened texture, melting of its own accord into inky ketchup, which is not however fit for culinary pui'poses. 



' Veil not arachnoid. Gills changing colour, clouded, at length dissolving. Spores dark-brown or black. 



- GlUs free, unequal, thin, simple, changing colour, at length deliquescent. VeU universal, more or less 

 concrete, flocculose, fugacious. Stem fistulose, straight, elongated, brittle, subsquamulose, whitish. PUeus mem- 

 branaceous, rarely subcarnose, when yoimg ovato-conic, then campanulate, at length torn and revolute, dehquescent, 

 distinct from the stem, clothed with the flocculose fragments of the veil. Fugacious funguses, growing in rich 

 dungy places or on rotten wood. 



