m CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI. 



centre, light reddish -brown, with darker concentric circles ; juice 

 very fine orpiment orange, mild WITH. iv. 203. Sow. Fung. 

 t. 202. GREV. FL Edin. 374. ; Wern. Mem. iv. 366. PURT. 

 Mid. Fl. iii. 187. 



Hob. Blackadder plantations ; and in a plantation between 

 Fish wick and West Fish wick. Sept. 



The stalk is sometimes as thick as a man's finger, never 

 more than 2 inches high, slightly tapered at the base, solid, 

 but pithy in the centre. The gills are slightly decurrent, 

 more or less dichotomous, and rather narrow, becoming 

 dirty green in decay. Pileus from 3 to 6 inches in diame- 

 ter, inflected at the margin, but plane in old age. The 

 whole plant abounds with a fine yellow-orange juice, taste- 

 less, becoming colourless or dirty green on exposure for 

 some time to the air. Dr WITHERING conjectured that 

 this might be the mushroom in which AGRIPPINA adminis- 

 tered poison to her husband CLAUDIUS, but the conjecture, 

 according to Dr GREVILLE, is erroneous. It is much 

 esteemed on the Continent. When Sir J. E. SMITH vi- 

 sited Marseilles, he says : u The market exhibited a pro- 

 fusion of spring flowers, and even carnations, intermixed 

 with grapes, dates, pomegranates, and a prodigious quan- 

 tity of Agaricus deliciosus, which really deserves its name, 

 being the most delicious mushroom known ; though it must 

 be confessed nothing can be less attractive than its ap- 

 pearance, its colour being a dirty brown, and the juice of a 

 deep orange, soon turning to a livid green, wherever the 

 fungus is touched or bruised." Climate is known to alter 

 the qualities of mushrooms in some degree, but in this in- 

 stance this seems not to be the case. " I had one dressed," 

 says Mr SOWERBY, " which was very luscious eating, full 

 of rich gravy, with a little of the flavour of mussels." 



13. A. rutilans, pileus convex, deep-yellow, more or less cover- 

 ed with crimson-red squamulose fibres ; gills rounded, numerous, 

 yellow ; stipes solid or partly hollow, streaked with red. GREY. 

 Fl. Edin. 371. Ag. xerampelinus, Sow. Fung. t. 31. PURT. Mid. 

 Fl iii. 210. 



Hab. On stumps of fir-trees in Blackadder plantations, 

 sparingly. Oct. 



Stem curved, thick, somewhat compressed, hollow, purple on 

 a yellowish ground, furfuraceous, 2* inches high, fths in 

 diameter. Pileus plane, 4 inches across, villose and scaly, 



