CRYPTOGAMIA -FUNGI. 163 



" They are not," he says, " so readily distinguished in a longitu- 

 dinal slice, a circumstance which I am inclined to ascribe to the 

 transparency of their coats confounding them with the cellular 

 substance in which they are imbedded ; and which consists of con- 

 tinuous oblong cells, the membrane forming the sides of which 

 is of very different degrees of thickness ; but, nevertheless, they 

 may be made out by any one accustomed to the use of the micro- 

 scope." Of the nature of these vessels, Dr THOMSON could not 

 satisfy himself. They are neither the spiral, nor the annular, 

 but he suspects them to be the moniliform. The stalk supports, 

 or, more properly, is expanded into a circular cap or pileus, more 

 or less convex on the upper surface, and furnished beneath with 

 gills or lamellar folds radiating from the insertion of the stalk to 

 the circumference. These gills are formed by a duplicature of 

 the epidermis ; and from them the seminal powder is discharged 

 in great profusion. In the early state of the mushroom, the gills 

 are completely covered by a membrane stretched, like a curtain, 

 across the concave surface. It is torn by the growth of the fun- 

 gus, and either disappears entirely, or hangs round the stalk like 

 a collar, or leaves merely a stain indicative of its former exist, 

 ence. 



* Stalk central and solid. 

 "I" Gills decurrent. 



1. A. eburneus, white; stalk straight or somewhat curved, 

 slightly tapered at the root ; pileus smooth, convex, at length 

 plane or cupped ; gills decurrent, wide, not numerous. WITH. 

 iv. 185. GREV. Wern. Mem. iv. 360; FL Edin. 371; Ag. virgi- 

 new, Sow. Fung. t. 32. GREV. Crypt. FL t. 166. 



Hob. Old short pastures, in autumn, common. 



This agaric is of a uniform ivory-white colour, " in damp 

 weather rather viscid, and in wet seasons semitransparent." 

 Stalk 1 or 1| inch, slightly thickened upwards, solid, often 

 curved. Pileus about an inch in diameter, convex, obtuse, 

 at length plane or concave ; flesh thin. Gills broad, 4 in 

 a set, distant, decurrent. Edible. 



2. A. cyathiformis, " gills greyish-white ; pileus stone colour, 

 very thin, soft, smooth, and leathery, glass-shaped ; stem the 



