OF BRITISH FUNGI 55 



occasionally eaten in France, it merits a better acquain- 

 tance. When cooked, the method recommended is to 

 stew them gently with fine herbs and delicate sauce : 

 in this manner, Berkeley says that they may supply 

 the place of better species, and a correspondent who 

 always economizes all he meets with affirms that 

 they are excellent. It is believed that our figures 

 (PL 6, fig. 2) will enable the amateur to distinguish 

 them with facility. 



The second species (H. pratensis) is found in open 

 pastures in the autumn, not uncommonly. In colour 

 it is variable, in all shades between a light buff and a 

 dark orange. Its habits are gregarious, growing gene- 

 rally in tufts and sometimes in parts of circles. The 

 pileus is slightly elevated in the centre, and smooth. 

 The stem becomes rather smaller at the base, and is 

 more or less spongy in the interior. The gills are 

 not numerous, but thick and decurrent, and of a red- 

 dish buff-colour, and there is no trace of a ring. In 

 colour, therefore, it is readily distinguished from the 

 last species, although occasionally it may be found 

 nearly white. In habit and general appearance it 

 resembles H. tirgineus. It is perfectly wholesome, and 

 is sometimes eaten in France ; and if not quite equal 

 to the other, it is certainly preferable to some which have 

 been more strongly recommended. It is scarcely neces- 

 sary to caution our readers against an allied species of 

 the same genus, which is extremely variable in colour, 

 and is at first covered with a greenish evanescent gluten. 

 The best that can be said of it is that it is suspicious. 



