Order Hvmenomtcetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate LXXXVII. 



AGARICUS VOLEMUM, Fnes. 



Warden-Pear Agaric. 

 Series Leucosporus. Sub-genus Galorrheus. 



Spec. Cliar. A. Volemum. Pileus dry, from three to five inches broad, compact, obtuse, firm, flesh thick, at 

 first slightly nmbonate, but the umbo at length vanishes ; sub-depressed, sometimes very faintly zoned, with a few 

 minute wrinkles towards the margin, dry, at length cracked ; of a rich dark orange or golden red-brown colour, 

 dai'kest in the centre, the whole rather dull than shining, in age growing paler ; margin not in the least involute, 

 though when young the edge of the pileus is regularly incurved. Milk white, not very abundant, not acrid at any 

 period, quite mild and sweet, tm-ning pallid brown when the flesh is cut. GUIs pale ochraceous, nearly white, 

 becoming fuscous when bruised, not very close, scarcely decurrent even in depressed specimens, sometimes slightly 

 forked. Spores creamy white. Stem from two to four inches high, above an inch thick, solid, firm, elastic, obese, 

 slightly attenuated downwards, pruinose, the upper portion of a beautifid aurora yellow, the rest of a paler tinge 

 than that of the pileus. " Very delicious even when eaten raw ; celebrated from early times." (Fries.) 



Agakicus Volemum, Fries, Berkeley. 



Hab. In woods. Hare. 



The " Gold Broiling " of Germany and Hungary unluckily is not " sufficiently common " in tlie 

 southern parts of Britain^ though possibly produced in greater abundance in the Highlands, and fungus 

 epicures may envy the good folks of Prague, near which city it grows " copiously " according to Kromb- 

 holz, for undoubtedly the only one it ever fell to our share to regale upon, was the very best of all the 

 esculent Agarics, concerning which we have had opportunities of forming an opinion. 



The name Volemum is that of a large pear, so called from vola, the palm of the hand, because each pear 

 is in itself a handful ; these pears are our Eed- Warden, or baking pear. The application of this designation 

 to the Agaric is not un-a])t, for the size of the pUeus is in circumference nearly that of the fruit, while its 

 depressed slightly wrinkled centre and plump shoulders represent in general configuration the thick end of 

 the pear ; the colour also is not unlike the rich reddish-yellow of the ripened Warden. 



In August 1841S, our present subject appeared in Barnett wood near Hayes; it would be scarcely 

 possible to mistake it for any other of the tribe ; external colour is not a point to depend upon, and so far 

 as stem and pileus are concerned A. quietus or A. rvfus may be imagined to partake the orange hues of 

 A. Volemum, but internal colour, unatfected of course by foreign agencies, is always true to itself; the milk 

 of all tliree is at first pure white, but in Volemum exposure to the air changes it, when the flesh is cut, to 

 pallid umber, while that of the others still remains white, unchangeable. Whatever then may be the question 

 as to shades of red-brown or yellow, fading or unfading complexions, mere " outside show," let the in- 



