1 6 GUIDE TO THE MODELS OF FUNGI. 



a fungus from which it can be distinguished only after careful ex- 

 amination. A. dcalbatus has white spores, A. Orcella pink spores ; 

 both are esculent. 



20. Agaricus elixus Sow. — Pileus fleshy at the disc, thin near 

 the margin, convex, often depressed but umbonate, margin at length 

 undulated ; flesh dirty grey-white ; gills white, thin, decurrent, dis- 

 tant, connected by veins; stalk solid, sooty-whitish, velvety at the apex. 



Not uncommon in woods, where it sometimes grows in large 

 numbers ; it is distinguished from all its allies by its very bibulous, 

 brittle-soft flesh, which in wet weather becomes completely saturated 

 with moisture, and then often breaks with its own weight ; the colour 

 changes at the same time from pallid to sooty brown. 



21. Agaricus opacus With. — Pileus at first convex, then ex- 

 panded, umbonate, repand ; gills adnato-decurrent, very crowded, 

 white ; stalk stuffed, sub-fibrillose, unequal, flexuous. 



This is a wholly white species, common in woods, remarkable 

 for the superficial silvery glair with which the pileus is clothed, and 

 which may be rubbed off with a touch. Sometimes mistaken for 

 A. dealbatus. 



22. Agaricus maximus Fr. — Pileus often a foot in diameter, in- 

 fundibuliform but umbonate, whitish or pale bufi', fleshy at the disc 

 but thin towards the involute margin, dry ; flesh white, soft; gills 

 deeply decurrent, somewhat crowded, soft, whitish, not changeable; 

 stalk attenuated upwards, elastic, spongy-solid, whitish. 



One of the largest of British Agarics, not uncommon in grassy 

 places. Odour weak, but pleasant ; possibly edible, 



23. Agaricus geotropus Bull. — Pileus pale tan-coloured, convex, 

 then depressed, often umbonate, smooth, margin thin ; flesh white ; 

 gills deeply decurrent, somewhat crowded, white; stalk solid, fleshy, 

 attenuated upwards, white, becoming yellowish. 



A. geotropus sometimes rivals A. maximus in size, but it is 

 firmer and usually smaller, more elegant and slender; is one of 

 the handsomest of all the British Agarics; it grows in woods and 

 pastures, sometimes in fairy-rings of enormous size. 



24. Agaricus flaccidus Sow. — Pileus shining, tawny-ferruginous, 

 slightly fleshy, flaccid, at first umbilicate, then infundibuliform, never 

 umbonate ; flcsli pallid, fragile when fresh, flaccid when dry ; gills 

 arcuate, decurrent, crowded, very narrow, whitish, becoming yellow; 

 stem naked, shining, red-brown, elastic, tough, thickened and villous 

 at the base. 



A. flaccidus is common in woods and bushy places, where it 

 usually grows gregariously in rings. 



