8 FUNGI. [Agaricus. 



panulate truncate at length plane, more or less scaly, margin 

 plicate, gills remote, stem hollow ventricose glabrous, ring per- 

 sistent. Sow. t. 2. Pers, Syn. p. 416. Fr. Syst. Myc. v. 1. 

 p. 280. Grev. Sc. Crypt. Fl. t. 833.—^. luteus, With. v. 4. p, 

 212. Bolt t. 50. — A. cretaceus, With. v. 4. jo. 201. Purt.v. 3. 

 n. 1455. — /3. stem equal. 



Bark-beds in stoves. Summer and Autumn. Not uncommon. /3. 

 Elton, Hunts. Rev. M, J. Berheley. — " Gregarious or tufted, white, 

 pale sulphur, or yellow. Pilem 1 — 3 inches broad, ovate conical when 

 young, then campanulate, and finally nearly or quite plane, darkest in 

 the centre, and more or less covered with small scattered fibrous scales; 

 flesh thin, margin very thin and semitransparent plicate ; substance 

 tough and bears fielding between the fingers without tearing. Gills nu- 

 merous, thin, broad, and rounded near the stem, and separated fi-om it 

 by a circular space; but the stem does not penetrate into the substance 

 of the pileus. Sporules white, copious, elliptic. Stem 3 — 6 inches high, 

 straight or crooked, firm, even, smooth, narrow at the top, but ventri- 

 cose below and then narrower again at the very bottom, somewhat 

 pruinose, the centre at first filled with delicate silky fibres, at length 

 hollow. Ring perfect, erect, persistent. In decay the pileus becomes 

 brownish, and according to its situation, either dries up or becomes 

 covered with little globules of fluid and gradually dissolves." Grev. I. c. 

 In /3. the stem is quite equal and the gills have the palest yellow tinge, 

 like that assumed sometimes by A. cristaius and A. polystictus ; in every 

 other respect it agrees with A. cepcesiipes. A.cretaceiis, Bull, if rightly 

 placed by Fries, has dark sporules. Every thing about the species in- 

 dicates a complete affinity with A. 2)rocerus and A. cristatus. 



13. A. Clypeoldritis, Bull. (Shield'like Agaric) ; inodorous, 

 epidermis of the pileus broken into scales, gills approximate, stem 

 floccoso-squamose, ring evanescent. Bull. t. 405,506./. 2. Fr. 

 Syst. Myc. v. \. p. 21. Sow. t. 14. With. v. ^. p. 244. Purt. 

 V. 3. p. 420. {in part.) Grev. Fl. Ed. p. 370. — A. Meleagris, 

 With. ed. 2. 



Woods, especially of beech; borders of shady fields. Oct. — Nov. 

 Eare. Duddingston. Greville. Canterbury. Rev. 31. J. Berkeley. — 

 Pileus \\ inch broad, subcampanulate, strongly umbonate, whitish 

 with reddish scales. Gills numerous, quite free, nearly reaching 

 the stem, ventricose. Stem 2 — o\ inches high, 2 lines thick, 

 hollow but stuffed with cottony fibres, whitish, pale brownish or rufes- 

 cent, the whole clothed with fibrillose scales. Ring sometimes remain- 

 ing on the stem, but more generally attached to the margin of the 

 pileus or evanescent. Inodorous and insipid. — Bearing some resem- 

 blance to A. procerus^ but smaller and more delicate. M. Roques in- 

 forms us that while some pronounce it excellent for food, others declare 

 it to be poisonous, and adds that he has twice eaten a small quantity, 

 without experiencing any bad effects. Sowerby's plant is set down by 

 Fries in Syst. Myc. as a variety ; but in his Ind. alph. as A. cristatus^ 

 which it cannot be, for the gills are not remote : and M. Klotzsch in 

 Hook. Herb., seems almost disposed to consider it a distinct species. 

 The flesh in the centre is far deeper than in the connnon state, and the 

 stem nearly naked. His specimens were gathered in the stoves, at 

 Castle-Semple, near Glasgow, in the month of July. 



