166 A CATALOGUE OF BRITISH POISONOUS FUNGI. 



Genus AGARICUS. Sub-genus ENTOLOMA. 



(IX.) AGARICUS CLYPEATUS ; Entoloma cljrpeata ; The 



Buckler. 



Habitat. In woods, shrubberies, and gardens. By twos and 



threes. 



Seaso7i. April to June. Not uncommon, 



Pileus. Three to six inches across, grey-tawny, streaked and 

 spotted, dry, smooth, sleek, silky, sub-farinose, hygrophanous ; 

 campanulate, then expanding, depresso-umbonate. Margin sinuate, 

 undulate. 



Stem. Two to four inches high, dingy or grey, streaked with 

 tawny, attenuate and farinose above, fibrillose below, firm, naked. 



Section. Flesh not thick, white, brittle. Stem stuffed, then 

 fistulose. Gills dingy pink, then dull red, large, serrulate, rounded 

 behind, adnexed, or denticulato-adnate. Odourless. Taste mild. 

 Spores pink. 



Obs. This species is intensely poisonous, even in small quantities. Its 

 principle seems to be wholly narcotic. See chapter ix. The sub-geuus is a 

 dangerous one, for the esculent Entolomes are closely resembled by congeners 

 of unknown quality, some of which, such as Ent. repanda, are reputed to be 

 noxious. — W. D. U. 



Genus AGARICUS. Sub-genus HEBELOMA. 



(X.) AGARICUS CRUSTULINIFORMIS ; Heheloma crustulini- 

 formi3 ; The Snake in the Grass. 



Habitat. In woods, parks, commons, grass-fields. In wide 

 rings. 



Season. July to November. Common. 



Pileus. Two to three inches across, whitey-bulf, yellowish, tan, 

 tawny on disc, smooth, shining and viscid in wet ; convex, then 

 plane, repand. Margin somewhat sinuate and depressed. 



Stem. Two to four inches high, pallid, discoloured, firm, thick, 

 naked, squamulose above, glabrous and swollen below. 



Section. Flesh thin, pallid. Stem stuffed. Gills fawn, then 

 red-brown, crowded, thin, narrow, unequal, crenulate, holding dew- 

 drops, free. Odour of radish. Taste nasty. Spores brown. 



Obs. Narcotico-acrid, but not a powerful poison. This, as well as other 

 Hebelomes, is very hardy. Though the seasons assigned seem the normal ones, 

 yot in mild and wet winters and springs I have noticed Hebelomes appearing 

 iu eome abundance, — W. D. II. 



