umn. It is not plentiful here and I have never eaten it, but a 
correspondent who has been more fortunate in finding it pro- 
nounces it “very good eating.” 
The Wood mushroom, or Silvan mushroom, Agaricus silvati- 
cus, is also a scarce species with us. It is similar in size 
and shape to the Flat cap mushroom, but it is of a more brownish 
color, with the cap more prominent in the centre, and adorned 
merely with fibrils or with a few obscure scales, which at length 
disappear. Its gills also are pinkish at first, and then blackish- 
brown as in the other species. 
It occurs in summer and autumn in woods as its name in- 
dicates, but it is neither frequent nor abundant, and of but little 
importance as an edible species. 
The term “Brown mushrooms” has been applied indiscrimi- 
nately by one writer to such species as the Bleeding mushroom, 
the Flat-cap mushroom and the Silvan mushroom. 
VIII. PURPLISH-BROWN AND BLACK SPORES. 
The genus Hypholoma differs from Agaricus in having the 
gills attached or grown fast to 
the stem at their inner ex- 
tremity and in having a stem 
ANN destitute of a collar. Its spe- 
RNA cies have not, previous to this 
P time, been regarded as edible. 
But one of my correspondents 
has eaten freely and repeated- 
ly of the Perplexing mush- 
room, H. perplecum, and he 
reports it has no bad taste 
and produces no ill effects, 
and on the strength of this it 
is here admitted among the 
edible species. 
It usually grows in clusters 
of few or many individuals, 
Hypholoma perplexum, slightly reduced. on or about stumps, or at the 
base of trees in woods or in 
open places. It is found in autumn. The cap is from one to 
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