AGARICS 



91 



The Campestris is probably the most protean of all 



mushrooms, and mycologists are even yet at odds as 



to the proper botanical disposition of 



^of'the* many of the contrasting varieties which 



Campestris it assumes. A few of these are indicat- 

 ed in Plate 6. Indeed, some of these, 

 as in the Agaricus arvensis, following, have until quite 

 recently figured as distinct species. In its extreme 

 form it might well so do, but when science is con- 

 fronted with an intermediate specimen bearing equal 

 affinities to the Campestris and Arvensis — and per- 

 haps reinforced by other individuals which actually 

 merge completely into the Campestris — the discrimi- 

 nation of the Arvensis as a distinct species becomes 

 impossible, and would hardly seem warrantable. 



Berkeley gives the following selection of the more 

 distinct varieties, not including the Arvensis with its 

 variations, and which he considers a distinct species: 



1. The so-called "garden mushroom," with its brownish, hairy, 

 scaly cap. 



2. A. pratensis, in which the pileus is more or less covered with 

 reddish scales, and the flesh as well as gills a pinkish tinge. 



3. A. villaticus, large size and very scaly. 



4. A. silvkola, pileus smooth and shining, stem elongated and 

 conspicuously swollen at base; often found in woods. 



5. A. vaporarius, brown pilose coat which covers the stem as 

 well as the cap, and leaves streaky fragments on the stalk as it 

 elongates. 



6. He also figures another marked form, with the cap of ^ red- 

 dish color, completely covered with a pilose coat ; the gills being 

 perfectly white in young specimens, and the flesh turning bright 

 red when bruised. 



Any one of the above, he admits, are as much entitled to classi- 

 fication as " distinct species " as the Arvensis. 



