may be found much more nearly approaching^ in outwarcl guise, this humble ally, squeezing up to the gate- 

 post to gain protection apparently from passing feet, than to the splendid '' Pomposus" glowing in orange 

 and red, throwing out a few bold stems to display their handsome caps, under the awning of the hazel 

 boughs in the coppice, as if they thought the old stump should be flattered by their selection of it. 



But there is one sure test, the colour of the spores; wliich in A.fascicidaris are ferruginous-purple, 

 in A. lateritms, pallid purple-brown without the slightest tinge of rust colour, exactly the shade of raw- 

 chocolate. There is little occasion to point out the difference between A. lateritius and its sub-solitary 

 variety, it may be more difficult to prove their Kkeness. When the habitat of this Agaric is decaying wood 

 alove ground, seven or eight, seldom more, perfect pileuses proceed from the nidus in which they take 

 birth, the wood on each side circumscribing their root expansion to one small spot ; but when their rudi- 

 ments find space for spreading laterally, as in the case of dead wood or roots beneath the soil, each pileus 

 can force a way for independent existence and does so ; then, instead of lax stems, lengthened to give room 

 for expansion, and caps tiled one over the other, shedding their discolouring spores on the inferior ones, 

 we have a stout, firm, clear-coloured Agaric, which strict examination wiU convince the sceptic is really 

 A. lateritius, and nothing short of it wiU. We have found it on a lawn, of which the soil is fuU of roots 

 from surrounding trees, growing in perfect rings of considerable diameter, which proves that the spawn has 

 a tendency to spread where opportunity is afforded, and that our solitary friend is no misantlirope, but 

 inclined to join the social circle in proper and pleasant places. 



