184 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



grow to them at their inner extremity. This seems 

 in itself a minute and technical distinction, but 

 practically it produces a recognizable difference of 

 appearance in the gills. Another feature in the 

 russules is that they never possess a collar, or ring, 

 round the stem, and the latter is soft, without any 

 rigid outside coating analogous to bark. Finally, the 

 spores are globose, mostly rough, and either white or 

 pale ochre. Experience may soon enable a person to 

 distinguish between a russule and an agaric, but a 

 mere verbal description will hardly accomplish the 

 feat. 



In despite of the initial difficulty, we must attempt 

 some account of two or three species, even at the risk 

 of appealing only to those who are able to distinguish 

 a russule at once. One of the most commendable 

 species is the sea-green russule {Russula virescens) 

 which generally grows beside paths in woods in the 

 summer or early autumn, but is nowhere common. 

 The cap is at first convex, with the margin curved 

 inwards, from three to four inches in diameter. The 

 cuticle is whitish, covered with an opaque coating 

 resembling meal, which gradually cracks and breaks 

 up, as the cap expands, into a covering of irregular 

 small angular spots or patches, the thickness of which 

 varies according to the thickness of the original 

 mealy coating ; the cracks between the spots show 

 the white cuticle, but the little patches are sea-green 

 or yellowish green, or ochre, communicating to the 



