GUIDE TO THE MODELS OF FUNGI. 3 1 



The frequent newspaper records of " gigantic mushrooms " 

 generally refer to A. villatictis. In the Transactions of the Woolhope 

 Club, 1874-6, p. 60, an account is given of three enormous mush- 

 rooms which lifted a flagstone weighing 80 lb. in the town of 

 Worcester. A mushroom is mentioned in the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 for July 28th, 1888, which measured 4 ft. in circumference and 

 weighed 2 lb. 14 oz. 



59. Agaricus campestris L. The Mushroom. — Pileus varying 

 from white to rufescent-brownish, fleshy, convex, then flattened, 

 dry, generally silky, sometimes squamulose ; flesh thick and soft, 

 becoming reddish or slightly fuscous on being cut or broken ; gills 

 free, ventricose, crowded, often becoming sub deliquescent, salmon- 

 white, soon changing to bright flesh-colour, rose-salmon, or pink, 

 then dark purplish-brown, never clay-coloured or brown ; stalk 

 stuffed, firm, when young somewhat short and enlarged below, 

 then equal, even or squamulose, white; ring spreading or reflexed, 

 torn, sometimes deciduous. 



This species, which grows in open pastures and on breezy 

 downs, seldom near trees or bushes, is not usually more than 

 three to five inches in diameter. It is, however, very variable 

 both in stature and colour. 



The mushroom appears under many striking varietal forms. 

 The best marked of these are — A. silvicola Vitt., grows in woods; 

 pileus smooth, shining, white ; stalk elongated, somewhat bulbous : 

 A. pratensis Vitt., grows in pastures, often near trees and bushes; 

 pileus scaly-rufous ; flesh changing to pink on being cut or broken : 

 A. vaporarius Otto., pileus and stem furnished with a brown pilose 

 coat : A. costatus Fr., grows in woods ; pileus sulcate, repand : A. 

 riifescens Berk., grows in pastures, rufous ; gills at first white ; flesh 

 changing to bright pink, sometimes blood-red on bemg cut or 

 broken : A. exanmilatus Cooke, ring evanescent or obsolete : A, albo- 

 squamosiis W. G. Sm., pileus large, fleshy, furnished with large 

 adnate white scales, the remains of a very thin volva ; flesh dry, 

 tough, changing to rose, yellow sienna, and brown on being cut or 

 broken ; gills crowded, changing to black, edge at first white ; stalk 

 tough, with a distinct pith, with slight remains of volva at base ; 

 spores few, pale in colour. 



A. hortensis Cooke = A. cryptarnni Letell., the cultivated form 

 of mushroom beds : itself very variable ; pileus fibrillose or squamu- 

 lose, brownish. One of the forms of A. hortensis is named var. 

 Buchanani Berk., pileus white, opaque, nearly smooth, depressed ; 

 another var. elongatus Berk., stem tall, base somewhat bulbous, 

 approaching A. silvicola. These forms occur on mushroom 

 beds. 



Abnormal growths of mushrooms are very common, such as 

 stalkless forms, and one or more mushrooms growing inverted on 

 the pileus of another. 



Mushrooms are highly nitrogenous plants, and they absorb the 



