123 



6*8 x 5 jx. Plants when cooked were found to be less 

 palatable than those of P. campestris, and had a definite 

 but slight fragrant taste. 



On manured soil, Botanic Gardens, Sydney, November, 

 1916 (Miss Clarke, Watercolour No. 139), July, 1907, and 

 February and March, 1917; Heathcote (E. Lower), May, 1912. 



57a. Psalliota arvensis, var. iodoformis, var. nov. (pi. 

 xii., figs. 1 and 2). — This variety, to which we can find no 

 reference, is characterized by its very strong iodoform smell. 

 When brought into a house, the whole building is filled with 

 this smell, which persists after drying. One of us has eaten 

 specimens without any ill -effects, though the taste was rather 

 unpleasant owing to the partial persistence of the smell. On 

 the other hand, the following experience, for the notes of 

 which we are indebted to Miss C. M. le Plastrier, of Sydney, 

 indicates the need for great caution in tasting such plants : — 

 11 Be the iodoform-odour agarics. Three of us ate some. The 

 odour was attributed by us not to the mushroom, but to the 

 nurse who was with us at the time (it was during my father's 

 last illness). As soon as we tasted iodoform, we stopped eat- 

 ing, and so did not partake heavily. The effects were a 

 burning in the throat and restlessness. It was at the evening 

 meal they were served, and not one of us (three in all) slept 

 that night, failing off only towards morning. There was in 

 my own case a certain amount of nausea, (probably due to 

 imagination). The agarics grew in great abundance in the 

 shade of a large Schinus molle, and though they were close to 

 the wire fence of a fowl-yard, and even grew on the other side 

 of the wire, the fowls never touched them, though when I gave 

 them an ordinary agaric they ate it readily." 



Pileus 4 inches or more in diameter, campanulate, then 

 convex, sometimes with the centre depressed, smooth, pure 

 white, sometimes with a faint brown tint in places. Gills 

 nearly reaching the stem, rounded, white to pallid, remaining 

 pale for long, then becoming pinkish, finally purplish-brown. 

 Stem up to 5 inches high, slender, often nexuous, base not 

 bulbous but rooting, slightly attenuated downwards, with 

 spongy pith or hollow, silky-white. King very marked, not 

 definitely double. Flesh of the stem showing reddish to 

 yellow-orange stains when cut. Strong iodoform smell. 

 Spores 5 to 6*3 x 3*5 /a. 



Densely caespitose, often in depressions amongst grass. 

 Neutral Bay, Sydney, April, 1913 (Miss C. le Plastrier), 

 March, 1914, and April, 1915 and 1916; Mosman, Sydney, 

 March, 1916; Milson Island, Hawkesbury River, May, 1913; 

 Gordon, Sydney, April, 1916 (C. Wickham). (Miss Clarke, 

 Watercolour No. 77.) 



