264 



GIGANTIC FUNGI. 

 By M. C. Cooke, L.L.D., M.A., F.L.S., Ac, &c. 



The subject selected for this pajier belongs to an unfortunate class, for it is liable 

 to fail in two directions. Either the verdict may be that there is nothing in it, 

 for everybody may have seen specimens as big. Or, on the other hand, if they 

 have not, or fancy they have not, then the whole thing will be condemned at once 

 as an exaffgeration. In order to avoid the latter, which I consider the worse alter- 

 native, I have been careful to include nothing, on my own authority, which has 

 not been measured carefully, and in most cases drawn to measurement. Species 

 inserted on the authority of others, are supported by quoting the authority. If 

 there" is " nothing in it " that will not be a novelty sufficient to occasion surprise. 

 Agaricus (Amanita) virosus, Fr. 



Fries says that the stem in this species is from 4 to 6 inches long, and the 

 pileus from 3 to 4 inches broad. I have never found it but once, and then three or 

 four specimens were growing together in a plantation near Bungay. The largest 

 of these was 10 inches high, .stem Ij inches thick at the base, and the expanded 

 pileus had a diameter of 7j inches. In grandeur of appearance and pungency of 

 odour it was a species never to be forgotten. Although found in August of 1865, 

 its memory is not obliterated, but revived whenever a good juicy Phallus presents 

 itself. Filtered through the mists of twenty years this odour is not sweetened 

 yet, and probably will remain, not "too much beautiful, for ever." 

 Agaricus (Amanita) excelsus, Fr. 



Fries gives as the dimensions of this species, " stem 4 to 6 inches long, pileus 

 4 to 5 inches broad." Two specimens found by us near Watford in 1S83 consider- 

 ably exceeded these dimensions, one of them being 10 inches high with a diameter 

 of TA inches. The base of the stem was 2 inches thick. 

 Agaricus {Lepiota) procerus, Scop. 



It is very probable that this species will attain a considerable size under 

 favourable conditions, as its gi-owth is undoubtedly rapid. The Monographia 

 states that it will reach 4 to 8 inches or more in diameter of pileus, and Berkeley 

 says from 3 to 7 inches broad with a stem from 8 to 12 inches high. One specimen 

 obtained in Kew Gardens on the 16th October, 1883, was nearly 10 inches high, 

 with a pileus of upwards of 7^ inches diameter. This really deserved the name of 

 "Parasol" mushroom, but it has been exceeded, for I measured on one occasion 

 an old pileus, going to decay, of which the stem could nowhere be seen, and it 

 was a little over 8 inches in diameter. Specimens more than 6 inches are not 

 uncommon amongst the undisturbed masses of dead leaves in some sheltered nooks 

 of the grounds attached to Kew Gardens. 

 Agaricus (Lep.J rachodes, Vitt. 



Mr. W. G. Smith records specimen from Wilton, October 12th, 1884, exactly 

 lOi inches high. 



