THE COMMON MUSHROOM. 25 



a collar or ring, like a frill, the outer edge of which is 

 at first united to the edge of the pileus, covering the 

 gills, and only breaks away as the pileus expands, 

 and then falls down to form the collar round the stem. 

 This ring is rather thin, and easily torn, so that some- 

 times it is brushed away, or falls, leaving behind only 

 a thin line, or scar, to show where it has been. The 

 whole pileus and stem is of a creamy whiteness at first, 

 but becomes a little darker with age. To the finger 

 the texture of the surface resembles that of a soft kid 

 glove, and the outer skin may be peeled off from the 

 margin upwards, nearly to the top, in flakes. If this 

 fungus is cut through the middle of the pileus and 

 downwards through the stem, the flesh of the cap will 

 be seen to be thick, and white, sometimes turning a 

 little browner when cut. To the taste it somewhat 

 resembles a filbert, tinged with a characteristic mush- 

 room flavour. The gill-plates, radiating from the stem, 

 do not grow to it, but are free from the stem, and of a 

 delicate pink colour, which they retain for some time, 

 changing at length, with age, to dark purple brown. 

 This is an excellent character to be observed and borne 

 in mind, that the pink gills of the young mushrooms 

 become dark purple brown. There are " toadstools " 

 (for so we may call them) which have the gills pink, 

 not changing to dark brown, and some of these are 

 dangerous. All good mushrooms (of this species) 

 should have the gills at first pink, nearly white when 

 in the " button " state, and at length dark purple 



