98 BRITISH EDIBLE FUNGI. 



disturbing element, but it does not militate against 

 the conclusion that, as a general rule, pink spored 

 species should not be experimented upon without 

 positive knowledge of their properties. 



Some people think that the fungi we designate as 

 two species are in reality only two forms of the same 

 species, but that is a question which it would be out 

 of place to discuss here. Both are supposed. to have 

 a similar resemblance to sweetbreads when prepared 

 for the table, and hence the name. The most deli- 

 cate of the two is the orcella, or true vegetable sweet- 

 bread (Agaricus orcella), which has a thin, irregular 

 cap two or three inches in diameter, of an ivory white- 

 ness, or sometimes with a greyish tinge, especially at 

 the centre. There is a peculiar satiny lustre, which is 

 more pronounced when the weather is dry. The cap 

 soon becomes depressed and concave, with the 

 margin lobed or undulated, so as often to present a 

 very irregular and unsymmetrical- appearance. In 

 moist weather the surface becomes a little sticky, so 

 as to adhere to the fingers, but it is always soft and 

 smooth. The stem is short and white, decreasing 

 downwards, solid within, sometimes placed in the 

 centre, and sometimes towards one side of the cap. 

 The gills are numerous and closely crowded, running 

 down the stem, and attenuated towards both ends. At 

 first they are nearly white, then they become of a pale 

 greyish pink, and when old pass into a peculiar pale 

 lightish brown. For a long time the gills retain their 



