574 MUSHROOMS, OR ESCULENT FUNGI. 



and digestibility ; on which account, he says, it is generally 

 preferred in France. 



It is found abundantly in many places, generally growing 

 in rings, and reappearing for many successive years on the 

 same spot, and, though sometimes met with in old pastures, 

 is generally found in thickets, under trees. 



Agaricus This is one of the species occasionally sold 



Personatus. 

 BLEWITS. BLUE in Covent-Garden Market, London. When 



HATS. Cooke,, 



mature, it has a soft, convex, moist, smooth 

 pileus, with a solid, somewhat bulbous stem, tinted with 

 lilac. The gills are dirty-white, and rounded towards the 

 stem. 



The Agaricus personatus constitutes one of the very few 

 mushrooms which have a market value in England. It is 

 quite essential that it should be collected in dry weather, as 

 it absorbs moisture readily, and is thereby injured in flavor, 

 and rendered more liable to decay. 



Agaricus This is found only in spring, growing in rings 



Prunulus. 

 vat. Mcint. on the borders of wood-lands, at which time 



abundance of its spawn may be procured, and may be con- 

 tinued in the same way that the spawn of the common culti- 

 vated mushroom is ; namely, by transplanting it into bricks 

 of loam and horse-dung, in which it will keep for months. 



This mushroom is used both in its green and dried state. 

 In the latter it constitutes what is called " Funghi di Genoa," 

 and is preserved by being simply cut into four pieces, and 

 dried in the air for a few days, when it is strung up, and kept 

 for use. 



Agaricus There is little difficulty in distinguishing 



FAIRY-RING this mushroom, which is found growing in 



AGARICUS. 



rings. The pileus is of a brownish-ochre color 



