1885-86.] Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Chtb, 295 



members, including a few ladies, we started for Roslin with the 

 afternoon train, and walked through Eoslin Glen to Polton. Our 

 first find was in the small cemetery near Eoslin Castle. It was 

 the commonest of the Agarics — Agaricus fascicularis — with its 

 yellow umbonate pileus, adnate gills turning green, hollow stem, 

 and black vanishing veil. It grows abundantly in tufts at the 

 foot of old trees and gate-posts. It resembles slightly Agaricus 

 mutabilis, which was found in almost as great quantity when we 

 got fairly into the woods. Its habitat is the same. The gills, 

 however, are subdecurrent and reddish brown, with stuffed stem. 

 In the pasture-ground below the chapel was found, growing in 

 large rings, the Sooty Agaric — Agaricus grammopodius — with its 

 dark slightly umbonate cap, gills adnate dirty white, and fur- 

 rowed solid stem. Several specimens of the large Scorched 

 Agaric — Agaricus adustus — were collected, the pileus of which is 

 ash colour, olive and at length dark as if burnt, from which it takes 

 its specific name. The gills are white, and the stem when cut 

 transversely is of a sponge-like texture. A variety of this Agaric 

 — Agaricus elephantinus, 8ow. — which has the cup brownish- 

 yellow, gills yellowish-white, and stem solid, was also got, but not 

 identified at the time. Three very common Agarics — Agaricus 

 laccatus, A. rimosus, and A. foenisecii — were found in large 

 quantities all through the glen ; but we only once observed the 

 very common Agaric, Agaricus micaceus. It was growing in 

 large clusters on a fallen and decaying tree. It has the pileus 

 slightly furrowed and brownish, pale and at length black gills, 

 and slender stem. It takes its specific name from the effect 

 caused by the young plant, which shines in the sun as if covered 

 with particles of mica. An allied species, Agaricus atramentarius, 

 was found near the same spot, but not so plentifully. Like its 

 relative, it grows in tufts ; and they are both species, says Greville, 

 of a striking group, whose very singular property it is to dissolve 

 in decay, and almost entirely to disappear in an inky fluid. Two 

 other species, Agaricus conicus and A. dealbatus— the latter said 

 to be edible — were also collected in the same spot. A specimen 

 or two of Agaricus variabilis, made famous by the researches of 

 Professor Oersted, were found growing on dead branches. Though 

 not uncommon, it is interesting by its resupinate and afterwards 

 reflexed pileus, and the absence of a stem. About this spot the 

 President, a keen observer, picked up a tiny Agaric growing among 

 moss. I was not able to name it at the time, but I afterwards 

 identified it as a very small specimen of the Black-stemmed Agaric 

 — Agaricus androsaceus. The only rare species among the 

 Agarics collected that day were Agaricus rubescens, With.^ 

 having a polished reddish - brown pileus, rufous gills, and 

 solid stem ; and Agaricus virescens, Fries, with a roughish 



