Order Hymenomycetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate LXXVI. 



AGARICUS ARVENSIS, .sv-/../.,-. 



Var. EXQUISITUS, Vittadini. 



Horse Mushroom. 



Series Pratella.' Sub-genus Psaliota.^ 



spec. Char. Agaricus arvensis, var. ExauisiTUS. Pileus from fom- to ten inches broad, white, turning 

 yellow only where bruised ; at first convex, obtuse, {not conico-campanulate,') slightly lobed, at length plane ; finn , 

 thick, fleshy, floccoso-farinose, then smooth, polished, retaining the impression of the finger like kid leather. Flesh 

 compact but brittle, {not tough and corky^ pure white, {not vinous,) tiu'ning yellow only on the application of salt ; 

 juice not yellow. Gills very close, nearly equal, attenuated at both ends, free, leaving at maturity a space round 

 the top of the stem ; at first paUid, then pinkish grey, not darkening in middle age, but at length becoming brown, 

 nearly black ; dry, not deliquescing even when the flesh of the pileus is greatly injured by insects. Spores rich dark 

 brown, not purple black. Stem from two to five inches high, thickened at the base when young only, afterwards nearly 

 equal, smooth, shining, when bruised yellow, especially below, where it is not clothed with foccose scales, from an inch 

 to an inch and a half thick, at first appearing solid, but really stuffed with fibrous tissue ; in age irregularly hollow, 

 not fistulose, never bulbous, never laterally inclined. Ring duplicate, having the exterior portion split into 

 floccose radii ; afterwards reflected over the stem, tumid, persistent till the full maturity of the Agaric, and always 

 leanng traces on the stem ; attached to the margin of the pileus by the fragile inner veil only, so that on breaking 

 away, it leaves no fragments behind. Scent strong, agreeable, with some resemblance to bitter almonds. Esculent. 

 Excellent, making the finest ketchup. 

 Agaricus arvensis, Schrrffer, Fries, Berkeley, (5ISS.) 



exquisitus, Vittadini. 



Georgii, Sowerhy, English Flora, not of Withering. 



Hah. In pastures, generally forming large rings near trees; habit of A. campestris, not ceespitose. 



Nothiiig shews more clearly how wrong it is to bandy " bad names/' than an instance like the present, 

 wherein the unoffending innocence of au Agaric has been carelessly slandered, and the slander handed on 

 from authority to authority, acquiring of course by the accumulation of adverse verdicts, an extremely bad 

 reputation. " Effacing " and " erasing " are difficult tasks ; things never look quite fair after the operation ; 

 and so loth are mankind to remove a stigma, that when Vittadini designated the Horse Muslu-oom Exqui- 

 situs, we — we take shame to ourselves when recollecting the delicate dishes and admirable ketchup we have 

 since concocted — we said, "The Horse Mushroom must undergo some change in the climate of Italy." 

 But we studied the subject patiently, and then found that there were serious differences (although not 

 enough perhaps to establish distinct species) between one Horse Musliroom and another, and as all the 



' From Traimn, pasture ground. Veil not arachnoid. GiUs changing colour, clouded, at length dissolving. 

 Spores deep brown or sometimes nearly black. 



2 From -^akiov, a ring or collar. Veil forming a ring, subpersistent, really partial. Stem firm, subequal, 

 distinct from the pileus. PDeus more or less flesh}', convex, then campanulato-expanded, viscid or clothed with 

 squamules or fibrillae. GiUs fixed or free, becoming brown. In some species there are rudiments of a universal veil. 



