BBIBLE MtrSHEOOMS. 63 



SWEETBEEAD MUSHROOM, 



Agwricus {Clitopihis) orceUa. 



(Plate VII. Fig. 2.) 



There are a pair of mushrooms which 

 resemble each other so closely that many 

 persons believe them to be only varieties. 

 Both of them are unique in possessing 

 pinkish spores ; both have a mealy odour, 

 with a satiny white cap, tending to a very 

 pale grey. The Sweetbread {Ag. orcella) 

 is said to be the more delicate of the two, 

 with a thin, irregular, depressed pileus, two 

 or three inches in diameter. In moist 

 weather the surface is a little sticky, but it 

 is always soft. It grows in woods, or on 

 their borders, between June and September, 

 and may always be recognized amongst 

 white species by its strong mealy odour. 

 The stem is short, expanding into the giUs, 

 which run a long way down, and are at 

 first white, but at length assume a peculiar 

 pale greyish-pink colour, becoming rather 



