162 CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI. 



91. HYDNUM. 



1. //. repandum, stalk white, scarcely central ; pileus fleshy, 

 smooth, waved, yellowish ; prickles unequal, pale yellow WITH. 

 iv. 370. LIGHTF. Scot. 1041. Sow. Fung. t. 176. HOOK. Scot. 

 ii. 28. GREV. Wern. Mem. iv. 374 ; Crypt. Fl i. 44 ; FL Edin. 

 405. 



Hob. Plantations. Blackadder plantations. Aut. 



Stalk short, thick, white, solid, seldom quite central. Pileus 

 suborbicular, often upwards of 6 inches in diameter, flat- 

 tish, but waved and frequently lobed, smooth ; flesh thick, 

 white, not juicy. Prickles half an inch long, close, some- 

 what compressed, slanting, easily separated from the pi. 

 leus. Edible, and eaten on the Continent, but, in the words 

 of Gerarde, " I giue my aduice vnto those that loue such 

 strange and new-fangled meates, to beware of licking honey 

 among thornes, lest the sweetness of the one do not coun- 

 teruaile the sharpnesse and pricking of the other." 



2. H. auriscalpium, stem erect, lateral, brown, pubescent ; pi- 

 leus fixed by the side, subcircular, brown, pubescent ; teeth of 

 the hymenium subulate, distant, whitish LIGHTF. Scot. 1042. 

 WITH. iv. 369. BOLT. Fung. t. 90. Sow. Fung. t. 267. HOOK. 

 Scot. ii. 28. GREV. FL Edin. 406 ; Crypt. FL t. 196. 



Hab. Parasitical on decaying cones in Blackadder planta- 

 tions. 



The stalk and pileus become black in age, and the prickles of 

 a purplish-blue colour. The root is firmly fixed to the 

 scales of the cone, and springs from under the epidermis. 

 The whole plant is firm and tough ; and if not a beautiful, 

 is certainly one of the most singular productions in the 

 class. 



92. AGARICUS. 



OBS. The mushroom is a familiar example of this genus. The 

 species have, in general, a stalk composed apparently of longitu- 

 dinal fibres placed parallel to one another, and in close apposition. 

 The existence of vessels in the stalk has been denied, but their 

 presence, according to Dr A. T. THOMSON, is demonstrable by 

 placing a small transverse slice under a powerful microscope. 



