I 86 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



gether, reaching to, and touching the stem. It occurs 

 mostly in open places in woods. One feature in this 

 russule is the firmness of the cap and stem, and 

 another the peculiar pink of the cap, which is darkest, 

 or rather is replaced by a darker colour in the centre, 

 spreading in streaks all around. 



The peacock russule {Russida cyanoxanthd) is in 

 many respects similar to the last, but the cap is 

 shaded with light blue, or peacock blue, and pink or 

 yellow. It might almost be called rainbow russule, 

 with its variable prismatic colouration. In size it is 

 almost the same as the foregoing, but there is more 

 blue or purple in the colour, and the disc or centre of 

 the cap grows pale and yellowish. The stem is quite 

 smooth, even, and white, about two or three Inches 

 long ; the gills are broad and rounded behind, many 

 of them forked. The whole substance, and especially 

 the stem, is not so firm as in R. vesca. The flesh is 

 white beneath the separable cuticle, whereas in that 

 species it is reddish. The margin of the cap in both 

 species is even, that is, without parallel lines. There 

 is great resemblance between them as esculents, and 

 they grow in similar localities. Perhaps it would be 

 rather difficult for the novice to distinguish one from 

 the other. 



It would be useless to add other species less easy 

 of recognition, but equally wholesome, amongst those 

 which have white gills and spores. But there are 

 some in which the gills are more or less yellow, 



