i^o An HISTORY of FUNGUSSES, 



CLXIV. SPH./ERIA fiipitata, ftipite flavo cylindrico, pileo ovato caftaneo 

 agarici. punElato fubgeminato, radix tubrofo bivolvato intern nigro. Flora 



formia. Danica, faf. 9, p. 8, t. 540. 



AGARIC 



SPH^RIA. 



TAB. 



CXXX. 



OF this lingular, curious, and very rare plant, on the fifteenth 

 of October, 1786, I gathered the five fingie fpecimens, which 

 are exactly figured on the upper part of plate 130. I brought 

 them, (hut up in a tin box, amongft other Fungi, and on opening 

 the box the following morning, I obferved a fmall gelatinous drop 

 in every pbre, on the furface of the pileus ; — when, on expofing them 

 to the warm funfhine in my window, in the fpace of an hour the 

 gelatinous particles dried up, and a white powder was copioufiy dif- 

 charged on a piece of blue paper, upon which the plant was laid. 



On the twenty-eighth of October, 1787, I faw the plant again, as 

 it is figured on the plate, at a, b. h. It did not, in lying by me a 

 whole day, make any kind of exudation from the pores ; but the 

 fecond day, on being immerfed in clear fpirit of wine, the gelatinous 

 particles immediately began to exude ; in a few days the plant con- 

 tracted very much in fize, and afterwards the black turfy fubftance 

 fouled the fpirit, till it now appears quite black, and the plant has 

 loft three fourths of its original bulk. 



A fection of the pileus, to (hew the difpofition of the fph^rulse 

 (or rather ovie, for they are oval), is feen at e. A particle, cut off at n. 

 is very highly magnified at k. — 0. 0. are pores on the furface, which 

 communicate with the ov£e within. 



The root is black, and of a turfy, fpongy fubftance; it is fur- 

 rounded with a thick volva, which is of the fame fubftance with, and 

 a continuation of, the item. This volva is furrounded by another, 

 which is dry, hufky, and of a brownifh green or greenifh brown. 

 This outer volva is attached to the inner one, by a few radical fibres. 



The ftem while young is folid and fmooth, when old becomes 

 fiftular, furrowed, and a little twined : In both ftates it is foft, pliable, 

 and eafily fplits in yellow fhiriing filaments. It turns black and rots in 

 decay. 



Grows in Ramflm-Wood^ below Higbfield, near Halifax, 



