142 BOLETUS CYANESCEN3. 
had tlie species been less rare.- The pileus was at first globose, after- 
wards convex, and somewhat of a dirty cream-eolonr, beconnng darker 
with age. The cuticle was to the touch like the softest French kid 
leatliev. The flesh was compact, brittle, and of a very pure white 
when first broken, becoming gradually blue^ at first CcCnilenn, deepen- 
ing into full '^ cobalt/' at length leaving a carbonaceous stain where it 
had been of the deepest bine. The change was not so rapid as in 
some other species, but the blue was brighter and more brilliant. The 
stem in all the specimens was of a somewhat loose texture^ and brittle^ 
not in the least fibrous, snapping readily, but hollow in none. The 
only apparent tendency was in the most mature specimen, here figured, 
in which the centre of the stem was more spongy than in the others- 
In all there was a diminution of diameter, upwards and downwards, 
so as to be truly ventricose. The colour was nearly the same as that 
of the pileus in the upper portion, with a slight lemon-coloured tint 
near the top, but dark-brown at the base, melting into each other with- 
out any distinct line of separation. The tubes were perfectly free from 
the stem, short, round, and of a pallid primrose tint. The spores 
were undoubtedly colourless, twice as long as broad, and sometimes 
longer, and narrowed towards each extremity, 
Althou2!;h agreeing in the most important features with BuUiard's 
description, my specimens had certainly not an abrupt termination to 
the dark colour of the lower portion of the stem, as shown in the figures 
of BuUiard and Hoques, neither was the pileus of so deep a colour. I 
do not find that Bulliard characterizes the stem as hollow, though 
Fries (Epicr. p. 426) states, "Stipite medulla spongiosa farcto exca- 
vatoque," therefore, with him alone we must join issue. It is worthy 
of note, that the district in which my specimens were found was emi- 
nently gravelly, and that Sibthorp's were collected on Magdalen 
College Walks, during the month of September (Fl. Oxon. 1055). It 
is quite possible that this species is not so rare as we have hitherto 
regarded it. There are but a comparatively few localities in which 
any one resides who takes an interest in, or can determine from de- 
scription, the difi*erent species of British Fungi. Our figure may aid, 
in combination with the above particulars, any who may have " the will'* 
without hitherto knowing ''the way.'' 
ExPLAXATiOK- or Platb XXX. 
Fig. 7. Solelm ei/anescens. 8. Section of pileus i—loih natural size. 
