A CATALOGUE OF ESCULENT BEITISH FUNGI. 59 



\vliite ; campannlate at first, then convex, expanding, nearly plane ; 

 smooth, sleek, polished, viscid when wet, sometimes carrying loose 

 fragments of volva. Cuticle separable. Margin markedly striate. 



Stem. Four to eight inches high, white, slender, fragile, attenuate 

 upwards, silky, cylindrical, slightly incrassate below, naked. 

 Volva large, brownish, vaginate, elongate, often buried. 



Section. Flesh thin, fragile, white. Stem stuffed, cottony, at 

 length fistulose. Gills white, unequal, numerous, broad in front, 

 ventricose, perhaps imbricate, free. Odourless. Taste pleasant. 

 Spores white. 



Obs. RefeiTed to in chapter vii. A most commendable mushroom. The 

 volva must be always looked for, and the other points studied, as there are some 

 nasty species not unhke it. — W. D. H. 



Genus AGARICUS. Sub-gcmis ARMILLARIA. 



(7.) AGARICUS MELLEUS; Armillaria mellea; The 

 Stump-tuft. (PI. L, fig. 3 ; Tab. I., fig. 3.) 



Habitat. On dead stumps and rotten roots of living trees, etc. 

 In dense tufts. 



Season. July to November. Very common. 



Pileus. Two to five inches across, buff, dirty-ochre, wax-yellow, 

 brownish ; at first convex, then plane, sub-umbonate, covered with 

 brownish, fibrillose, reflexed scales converging round disc. Margin 

 scarcely striate, rather sinuate, depressed, or lobulate. Cuticle 

 separable, pruinose in undermost plants. 



Stem. Two to eight inches high, pale dirty buff, fibrillose, slender 

 in the middle, firm, elastic, tomentose and slightly enlarged at the 

 base. Ring large, pale buff, floccose, high, patent. 



Section. Flesh tough, thin, pallid. Stem stuffed, spongy. Gills 

 pallid, unequal, rather distant, broad, serrulate, perhaps spotted 

 with brown, adnate, or denticulato-subdecurrent. Odour slight. 

 Taste bitter and astringent. Spores white, profuse. 



Ohs. Described in chapter vii. Common and wholesome, but of inferior 

 quality.— TT. D. H. 



(8.) AGARICUS MUCIDUS; Armillaria mncida; The 

 Beech-tuft. 



Habitat. On dying or recently felled beeches. In clusters. 

 Season. September and October. Uncommon. 



