58 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



cumstances the cap is about three inches in diameter, 

 but it will reach four or five, and Dr Badham states 

 that he has found it six inches across, and weighing 

 between four and five ounces. He adds that he col- 

 lected one spring at Keston, in Kent, from ten to 

 twelve pounds in a single ring, and in the one field 

 from twenty to twenty-five pounds. From this it will 

 be seen that it is a gregarious species, many speci- 

 mens being found growing in company, in the form of 

 rings, or parts of rings, in the same manner as the fairy- 

 ring champignon. In some parts a prejudice exists 

 amongst the farmers against them, on the supposi- 

 tion that they injure the grass crops, and for that 

 reason they are kicked over and destroyed. A better 

 plan would be to collect them in a basket, and carry 

 them home to cook ; but prejudice is blind. 



In addition to its being found in fields and 

 pastures in spring, when agarics are rare, and its 

 gregarious habit, it has also a strong and peculiar 

 odour, which is rather oppressive if a large number 

 are taken into a room. The cap is thick in its flesh, 

 covered with a dry cuticle, soft to the touch, like a 

 delicate kid glove, smooth but often cracking when 

 old. In colour it is usually of a creamy whiteness, 

 inclined to become yellowish at the top, and not so 

 regular in form as the ordinary mushroom, but lobed, 

 and waved at the margin, which is turned in for a 

 long time, and wholly of a firm substance. When cut 

 through the flesh is often nearly an inch thick at the 



