PARASOL MUSHROOMS. 49 



tion as this ever prove to be practicable, the " inky 

 fungi " would secure a market-value beyond that 

 which would accrue from their use as food. Hitherto, 

 no successful effort has been made in the direction of 

 cultivation of these species, because there has been 

 no demand for them ; should such a demand arise, 

 some sort of cultivation is not impossible. 



VII.— PARASOL MUSHROOMS. 



Almost the greatest, if not the greatest, favourite 

 with fungus eaters is the " Parasol mushroom " 

 {Agariais procerus). It is certainly graceful and 

 elegant in appearance, dry and clean to the touch, 

 easily recognized, and, more than all, delicious at the 

 table. Surely all the attributes are combined, and 

 yet how few, except regular fungus eaters, know the 

 " Parasol." It has a soft, spreading, regular cap, 

 from three to seven inches broad, with a large boss or 

 nipple standing up in the centre, of a dark brown 

 colour, and broad, reddish brown scales disposed 

 somewhat regularly over the rest of the surface, on 

 a whitish, silky, fibrous substratum. The margin 

 fringed with the ends of the threads. The stem 

 slender, erect and graceful, from eight to ten inches 

 in length, and not more than half-an-inch in thick- 

 ness, swollen at the bottom into a distinct bulb, but 



D 



