Order Hymenomtcetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate LXVI. 



AGARICUS PILEOLARIUS, ^o.^.r^j'. 



Series Leucosporus. 

 Sub-genus Clitocybe.' Sub-division Dasyphylli.^ 



Spec. Cliar. A. pileolarius. Pileus, in maturity, from four to six inches across, but at first very little wider 

 than the stem ; broadly and obtusely umbonate, at length infundibuliform, with or without traces of the umbo, the 

 margin always incurved ; compact, firm, elastic, smooth, like kid leather, wrinkling in drying, but swelling out again 

 in a remarkable manner if set in water ; clear uniform buff, cream-colour. GDIs of the same shade as the pileus or 

 rather redder, (not white, not close), very decm'rent, narrow and attenuated towai'ds the stem, the circle where they 

 terminate upon it regularly defined. Stem from four to six inches high, an inch or more thick at the base, attenua- 

 ted gradually upwards, firm, elastic, streaked with red, solid, (not stuffed) supported among grass &c., by a cottony 

 web which runs up it irregularly. Plesh white (not of the same coloui- as the pileus), moderately thick in the 

 centre ; flavour and smeU agreeable. Esculent. 

 Agaeicus pileolai'ius, Sowerhy. 



geotrupus, Tria. 



infundibuliformis, /3. major, Berkeley. 



Hab. Open woodlands, often in rings, like A. oreades, upon the roots of grass. 



Whatever difficulty there may be about foreign synonymes, we have no hesitation in determining that 

 our present subject is the Agaric to which Sowerby gave the name Pileolarius. This, Fries identifies with his 

 A. f/eolnipus, saying that it corresponds with his A. nmxinms but is firmer, smoother, and more changeable 

 in colour. Specimens extremely similar to the A.pileolamis now given, Iiave been studied in various sites, 

 particularly in Hampshire, and at Bromley Scrubs, and answer the description of A. maximus very well ; 

 they grew in hedges, and among dead leaves in woods, and have a strong and disagreeable smell of Prussic 

 Acid ; they are every way coarser in their development, irregular in shape, lobed and waved, often eight 

 inches across, with a strongly marked umbo even in the most depressed specimens ; the stem is not marked 

 with " long pale blotches of reddish brown " (Sowerby), but the whole plant is uniform in colour, of a 

 redder buff, not so pm'c and clean as the true A. pileolarius. 



It is very possible that the differences between these two plants are merely from soil and climate. 

 " Le Grand AUier de Suisse " of Paulet, {Rypophyllum helveticum) is very near them. That author says 



' From KKiros, a steep or declivity, pointing to the shape of the pileus when young, and kv/3i;, a head. Veil none. 

 Pileus convex when yomig, not umbiUcate ; at length often depressed or infundibuliform. GiUs unequal, juiceless, 

 unchangeable, tough, variously fixed or free. Spores white. 



2 From batrvs, close, and 4>vK\ov, a leaf, in allusion to the giUs. Pileus dry, smooth, giUs close, decurreut, or 

 acutely adnate. 



