Notes on Fungi. 349 



expedition as to face an enemy in the field ; but in the former 

 case those qualities are exercised in advancing civilization, 

 extending knowledge, and exciting friendly sympathy and 

 interest throughout the world ; in the latter, they are wasted 

 in the deplorable operations of war. 



NOTES ON FUNGI.— No. III. 



BY THE EEV. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., E.L.S. 



WHITE-SPOKED AG-AKICS— KINGLESS OK EXCENTKIC. 

 {With a Tinted Plate.) 



It is not strictly correct to say that there are no ring-bearing 

 species in the remaining subdivisions of the white-spored 

 Agarics, but as the few which have rings belong to the division 

 which is characterized by the pileus being always more or less 

 excentric, there is no great difficulty about the exception. 



The subdivisions or subgenera are Tricholoma, Clitocybe, 

 Collybia, Omjphalia, Mycena, and Pleurotus, in all of which the 

 ■part which bears the fructifying surface is confluent with the 

 stem. The first which requires notice is Tricholoma, whose 

 name is derived from dpll;, a hair, and \£/u,a, a fringe or border; 

 but the name is deceptive, for if anything like a veil is ever 

 present it is quite rudimentary ; at any rate, its threads 

 are never interwoven into anything like a membrane, so that no 

 permanent veil must be looked for. The grand point of distinc- 

 tion consists in the gills always being sinuated or emarginate 

 behind (Fig. 1),* while the stem has no distinct bark-like 

 coat of a different consistence from the rest. As observed before, 

 some Armillarice are distinguished only by their ring, while 

 Amanita and Lepiota have the hymenophorum quite distinct 

 from the stem. All the species grow on the ground, and most 

 of the large ones are esculent; indeed, no specieswhich is con- 

 fessedly poisonous is contained in this subgenus. Where, how- 

 ever, experiments are made in doubtful species, great stress 

 should be laid on the absence of any disagreeable taste 

 or smell. 



The primary sections of Tricholoma rest on the presence or 

 absence of any viscid coat. It must be remembered, however, 

 that a species may be perfectly dry in hot weather, which is 

 dripping with a viscid moisture when wet. Some of the viscid 



* A vertical section of A. colossus, a magnificent Swedish species, which, is 

 chosen for illustration as it is so very characteristic. 



