Agaricaceee 



Agaricus. Cultivated fields and pastures. Summer and autumn. 



This species is so closely related to the common mushroom that it is 

 regarded by some authors as a mere variety of it. Even the renowned 

 Persoon is said to have written concerning it : " It appears to be only a 

 variety of A. campestris." Fries also says that it is commonly not dis- 

 tinguished from A. campestris, but that it is diverse in some respects; 

 its white flesh being unchangeable, its gills never deliquescing, remain- 

 ing a long time pale and not becoming dark-red in middle age. Berk- 

 eley says of it: "A coarse but wholesome species, often turning yellow 

 when bruised." Peck, 36th Rep. N. Y. State Bot. 



Spores spheroid-elliptical, gx6p K.,- Iix6/i W. G.S.; elliptical, 8-10 

 X5-6.5/* Peck. 



Indiana, H. I. Miller; Minnesota, B. L. Taylor; West Virginia, 

 North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mcllvaine. 



Unless the numerical system of John Phoenix to express degrees of 

 quality is adopted by a mycophagists' congress, and one species of 

 fungus is chosen as the standard of excellence, the comparative excel- 

 lence of species will never be settled. English epicures shun A. 

 arvensis ; the French prefer it. Berkeley says it is inferior to the com- 

 mon mushroom; Vittadini says it is very sapid and very nutritious. So 

 opinion varies. Individual tastes must decide excellence. Comparison 

 never will. Toadstools differ in substance, texture and taste as one 

 meat or vegetable differs from another. Beef could not be chosen as 

 the standard for meats, or cabbage as the standard for vegetables. 

 Agaricus arvensis is good. 



A. Hiagni'ficus Pk. magnificent. (Plate XCIV. ) Pileus 5- : 5 cm. 

 (2-6 in.) broad, fleshy, thick, convex, becoming nearly plane or cen- 

 trally depressed, bare, often wavy and split on the margin, white or 

 whitish, often brownish in the center. Flesh 1-5-2 cm. ( % in.) thick 

 in the center, thin on the margin, white, unchangeable. Gills numer- 

 ous, rather broad, close, free, ventricose, white becoming dark purplish 

 brown with age, never pink. Stem 10-15 cm. long (4-6 in.), about 

 2.5 cm. thick (i in.), firm, stuffed with cottony pith, bulbous or thick- 

 ened at the base, fibrillose, striate, minutely furfuraceous (covered with 

 scurf) toward the base, ringed, pallid or whitish, the ring thin, persistent, 

 white. Spores small, elliptic, 5-6/u. long, 3-4/4 broad. 



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