134 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



cap is flattened, the colour being the same as that of 

 the cap. It has rather a pleasant, but not very 

 decided odour, and mild taste. The colour is not a 

 common one even amongst fungi, and there is but 

 little chance of confounding it with any other ; but it 

 should be remembered that it does not grow in 

 woods, but in open places, on lawns, and especially 

 downs, amongst short grass, that the gills are wide 

 apart, and run a long way down the stem, and no 

 mistake is possible. Opinions may be divided as to 

 whether this should be considered as a mushroom of 

 the first class, as an esculent, or only second rate, 

 which depends much on cooking ; at all events it is 

 thoroughly wholesome, and of a delicate flavour. 



" Ivory caps " {Hygrophoi'us virgineus) is of a 

 smaller size than " bufl" caps," and grows in damper 

 places, to a very late period of the season, regardless 

 of frost, unless it is very sharp and sudden. It is 

 wholly white as snow, and though small is conspicu- 

 ous amongst the green grass. The cap is one or two 

 inches broad, soon expanded and flattened, viscid 

 when moist, and even slimy in very wet weather. 

 The stem is short, and the gills are continued from 

 the edge of the cap down the stem, so as to form an 

 inverted cone. They are distant apart and broad, so 

 that the veins at the base may be distinctly seen 

 passing from gill to gill. No appreciable odour can 

 be distinguished, and the taste is mild. The only other 

 pure white species found amongst grass is also edible, 



