STEOPHAEIA. 397 



crowded ; stem spongy, stuffed, bulbous, whitisli then 

 brownish, ring persistent; gills decurrent, pallid, then 

 reddish-brown. 



Agaricus versicolor, Withering, Bot., vol. 4, p. 158 ; Cke., 

 Hdbk,, p. 197. 



On the ground. 



Pileus 1-4 in. broad, scurfy, especially in the centre; 

 convex, at length flat, but the edge much curled in. Gills 

 decurrent. Stem 2 in. high, as thick as a swan's quill, 

 thickest downwards. (With.) 



The present species has not been found since Withering's 

 time, hence little is known about it. The decurrent gills 

 suggest that the present genus is not its proper place, 

 but for the present it is left here in deference to the opinion 

 of previous authors. 



Stropharia aeruginosa. Curt. (fig. 3, p. 361.) 



Pileus 2-3 in. across, fleshy, convex then almost plane, 

 rather umbonate, covered with bluish-green mucus that 

 eventually disappears, leaving the pileus pale straw-colour 

 or pallid, smooth or at first with scattered white squamules ; 

 gills adnate, 3 lines broad, soft, brown then purplish ; stem 

 about 3 in. high ; equal, viscid, squamosely fibrillose below 

 the ring, smooth above, greenish, hollow ; spores elliptical, 

 10 X 5 /t. 



Agaricus aeruginosus, Curtis, Flor. Lond., t. 309 ; Cke., 

 Hdbk., p. 197; Cke., Illustr., pi. 55], 



On the ground and on wood ; in pastures and woods. A 

 very beautiful species ; bright bluish-green before the 

 glutinous pellicle disappears ; when growing in woods the 

 pileus is often adorned with snow-white, scattered squamules. 



The typical and very elegant form occurs late in the 

 autumn in woods, large (pileus also, stem 3 in. and more), 

 stem with white squarrose squamules, pileus with scattered 

 white squamules, with an intensely aeruginous or bluish 

 pellicle, very glutinous. From this form a series occur 

 having the gluten of the pileus soon disappearing, as also do 

 the squamules from the pileus and stem, and the pileus 

 becomes yellowish. A smaller form occurs in sunny pastures, 

 stem scarcely 2 in. long, 2 lines thick, greenish-blue, without 

 squamules; pileus 1-2 in. broad, pale greenish-blue then 



