114 



the same old Teutonic 'goln' as ouv yellow, while the French 'janne,' with 

 greater verisimilitude, is derived from the Latin 'galbamis,' a greenish-yellow, 

 the adjective probably being formed from the noun ' gal banum,' which is supposed 

 to be the same as the Hebrew 'chelb'nah,' the gum used in making incense, and 

 said to be the resin of an umbelliferous pl;\nt growing in Syria. 



" Confusion became worse confounded," and I was about to give up the quest- 

 ion when, becoming possessed of a copy of Fries' leones Sehcto', I jjroceeded to 

 compare his descriptions with the colours of the plates. 



But even with this help success was rendered uncertain by two serious diffi- 

 culties—one arising from the very nature of the objects described, the other due 

 to the imperfections of human art. Fungi are seldom of one simple colour ; so, 

 while specimens may be easily found as aureo-fulvus, or fiilvo-testaccus, &c., it is 

 not so easy to discover one simply aureus, or fulvus, or [/ilvus, or testaceus. Again 

 many fungi undergo considerable changes in colour either as they grow old or 

 become dry, so that often some doubt remains as to which state of the fungus is 

 represented in the plate. 



When a few cases have been found of simple colours then the imperfections 

 of human art introduce a new uncertainty, the same colour in the description of 

 the fungi not being always represented by exactly the same tint in the coloured 

 figures. 



In order not to occupy too much of your time, and not to expose mvself to an 

 attack along tiie whole line at once, I shall confine njy remarks chiefly to the 

 yellows. 



The colour which surprised me most was that represented by a word of which 

 you have already heard something, viz., 'gilvus.' This is no pale nor bright 

 yellow as I had imagined it to be, but a very full yellow with a reddish brown 

 tinge and drawing towards aurantius, i.e., reddish or brownish orange. It is the 

 colour of Bolettis bovinus, of Tricholoma civilis, of Clytori/be vcrnicosus, and opipa- 

 rus. Clitocyhe splendens, better known than these last, has a little too much 

 ' luteus ' to be an exact representative of ' gilvus. ' 



The results of the comparisons which I have made lead me to arrange the 

 ' yellows ' somewhat in the following manner ; beginning with the paler forms. 

 Ochraceus, is often a very pale yellow with just a suspicion of drab : the colour of 



the stem of Tubaria paludosus. Sometimes it is much darker. 

 Sulfureus is the palest of the pure yellows, the colour of Hiitjroiihorus ckloropha- 



nits in its typical form, and of the fiesh of I'hoKota spertabilis. 

 Luteus is a pure bright yellow : I can give no British species to illustrate it, but 

 can only refer to Fries' j)ictures of Clitocybe pachyphyllus, Plcurotus ortm- 

 tus, and Lcptonia formosus. It seems to me to be just the colour of the 

 earliest oranges imported. In describing the fiesh of Tricholoma flavo- 

 brunneus in the Icones Selectee, Fries calls it 'luteus,' while in the Mono- 

 graphia he had called it ' sulfureus. ' 

 Flavidus is a little fuller, between 'luteus ' and ' flavus.' The colour of Clitocybe 



venustissimus in its paler form and of the stem of Nolanea vinaceus. 

 Flavus is a rich golden colour with no red about it, but perhaps a shade of brown. 



