Order Htmenomycetes. Tribe Pileati. 



Plate LXXXVIII. 



AGARICUS PROCERUS, scopou. 



Snake A(jaric. 

 Series Leucosporus. Sub-genus Lepiota.^ 



Spec. Char. A. procerus. Pileus from three to seven inches broad, at first obtusely conic, at length cam- 

 panulate, strongly urabonate, in age nearly plane with a slight depression round the umbo ; fleshy, epidermis 

 smooth, red-brown or umber, broken into irregidarly concentric, subreflexcd seceding scales : beneath these, and at 

 the margin, extremely loose and shaggy, white or brownish (not tinged with pink). Flesh white, unchangeable, 

 scanty, brittle, light, juicy, soft, except in the centre, where it forms a solid coriaceous socket to receive the stem 

 which penetrates it entirely to the epidermis. Gills perfectly free, set into a collar, separated by a considerable 

 space from the point of insertion of the stem, ventricose, their margins serrated, very pale flesh-colour or cream 

 white ; spores white. Stem from eight to twelve inches high, half an inch thick, attenuated upwards, moderately 

 bulbous, sohtary, perpendicular, (not bending angularly from a confluent mass,) scaly, very firm, rigid, fibrous, 

 splitting easily longitudinally ; distinctly and broadly channelled but containing a few silky fibres in youth, some- 

 times turning reddish if cut across. Eing membranaceous next the stem, and moveable upon it ; extremely thick, 

 spongy and shaggy. Smell peculiar, resembling capsicums, and occasionally hot in flavour. Excellent for food and 

 ketchup. 



Agaricus procerus, ScopoU, Fries, Berkeley, Curtis, Sowerby, Vitladitii. 

 colubrinus, BuUiard. 



Hah. On commons, banks, &c. ; subgregarious but not caespitose ; from July to October. 



On poor dry soil, such as commons, among furze bushes, the speckled-snake stemmed Procerus, raises 

 a pileus, wliich at first scarcely exceeds in diameter the lofty pedestal ou which it is placed ; the base is 

 supported among debris of dry grass, dead sticks, moss, &c., by a cottony web, which must not, however, 

 be mistaken for a volva ; this Agaric, being a Lepiote, never possessed such an appurtenance. It is true 

 that before it shewed its smootli little brown scalp in dayhght, it was wrapped in a " universal veil concrete 

 with the epidermis," but the remains of that are only evident in the free portion of it which protected the 

 gills and afterwards formed the ring. This ring is so thick, loose, and large, in proportion when first it 

 breaks away from the expanding cap, that the " snake " has been called " double-headed " by some of the old 

 authors — an effect we have often seen. While the baby pileus is still reposing upon the bulbous base, on 

 which it sits as a cushion, the brown epidermis is smooth and entire, but its elastic power is not commen- 

 surate with the rapid growth of the Agaric, so it cracks, more or less circularly, into patches the distance 

 between which is increased till they become merely detached spots upon the surface, rolling themselves back 

 as they dry, and often disappearing altogether ; this original cortical covering occasionally remains only 



' From XfTTir, a scale. Veil single, universal, closely adhering to, and confluent with the epidermis, when 

 burst forming a more or less persistent ring towards the middle of the stem. Stem hollow, stufl'ed with more or 

 less densely interwoven arachnoid threads ; equal or thickened at the base, fibrillose. Pileus more or less fleshy 

 but not compact, ovate when young, soon campanulate, then expanded and umbonate. Flesh white, soft. Gills 

 unequal, never distant or decurrent. Coloiu- of the gills white, in some varieties yellow. Solitary, persistent. 

 Autumnal Fungi growing on the ground ; not dangerous. 



