106 FUNGI. [Agaricus. 



length deep pnrple-brown. With, v. 4. j^. 206. Soio. t. 304. 

 3hish, 8^ Champ, ill, t, 3. Purl. v,2 8^^, n, 934. Grev. Fl, Ed, 

 p, 390. — Fungus esculentus, S)C.^ Raii, Syn, ed. 3. p. 2. — 

 Fungus totiis alhus edulis, Vaill, Bot. Par, p, 75. — A, arvensis, 

 Schqf, t. SIO, 811, 



Meadows, woods, and near buildings, haystacks, &c. Spring and 

 Autumn. Common. — Pileus 4 — 18 inches broad, white stained with 

 yellow, convex, very thick, firm and tough, quite smooth or clothed 

 with broad tawny more or less concentric adpressed scales ; Jiesh 

 yellowish when cut, juice yellow. GUIs adnata (free, Grev.) broad, 

 numerous, white or very pale flesh-colour, at length dark purplish- 

 brown. Stem 2 — 5 inches high, 1 — 2 inches thick, firm, the centre 

 loose and weblike ; when bruised yellow, especially below. Dis- 

 tinguished fi'om A. campestris by the almost white gills and the yellow 

 stains when bruised. It is very generally rejected by housekeepers in 

 the country as unwholesome if not poisonous, but in London it is 

 frequently sold under the name of White-Caps. The flavour is far 

 inferior to that of the common mushroom ; its smell is strong and 

 unpleasant, and it is little fit for making ketchup, having but a small 

 quantity of juice, and that not of a good colour. It grows to an 

 enormous size. Hopkirk records an instance of one weighing 5 lb. 

 6 oz. and measuring 43 inches in circumference, and Withering gives 

 the description of one weighing 14 lb. and of another found by Mr. 

 Stackhouse in Cornwall, 18 inches across and the stem as thick as a 

 man's wrist. It is called in France JBoule de neige. The synonyms 

 of Kay and Vaillant, quoted above, are with much less probability 

 considered by Fries as belonging to his A. cretaceusy a species involved 

 in much obscurity, and so nearly resembling some species of Lepiota^ 

 as to make it difficult to believe that it is rightly placed in the series 

 Pratella, or distinct from A. cepcestipes. Indeed from what that writer 

 says, under A. leiocephcdus, I am inclined to think that he judged of 

 the hue of the sporules from the change of colour in the gills and not 

 from actual inspection.* 



286. A. campestris, L. (3Iushroom) ; pileus fleshy dry siib- 

 squamose or silky, gills pink free ventricose at length brown, 

 stem stuffed furnished with a ring white. L. Suec. 1203. 

 Pers. Syn. p, 418. Schceff, t. 33. Soiv, t, 305. Bolt. t. 45. 

 With, V. 4. p, 209. Part, v, 2 <5' 3. 7i. 933. Fr, Syst, 3Iyc, 

 V. I. p. 2S1. Grev, Fl. Ed. p. 390. Sc. Crypt, Fl. t. 161. 



3Iush. Sf Champ, ill. tA 8f 2 A. edulis, Roques, Hist, des Champ. 



p. 14. 96. Bull. t. 134, 514. 



* On an attentive examination of the synonyms quoted by Linnseus in 

 the Flora Snecica, it seems to me almost impossible to determine accurately 

 ■what the species is to wliich he has an eye. There is much more reason to believe 

 "Withering riglit, than Fries, who considers^. Georgii, L. a yellow variety of 

 A. emeticus, which militates altogether against the concurrenttestimony of the 

 older writers who describe it as esculent. "The figure in Si.erheech, Thtat. Fung. 

 t. 1. G. appears to be the same figure as that of Clusius and Bauhin, and is a 

 tolerable representation of a small specimen of the species now before us. I 

 am not aware, however, that it generally appears in this country sooner than 

 A. campestris, so as to answer to the name of St. George's Agaric, though I 

 have gathered it as early as the 18th of May, a few days only after St. George's 

 Day, according to the old style. 



