32 Notes on Fungi. 



NOTES ON FUNGI.— No. VI. 



BY THE KEV. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., P.L.S. 



BLACKISH PUEPLE, OE BEOWN-SPOEED MUSHEOOMS, TOGETHEE 

 WITH THE BLACK-SPOEED SPECIES. 



The first division, Pratelli, consisting of six subgenera, Psal- 

 Uota, Pilosace, Stropharia, Hyplwloma, Psilocybe, and Psatkyra, 

 contains our more important esculent Agarics. Many of the 

 species are small and unimportant, while some in the first sub- 

 genus are amongst the largest and most noble Agarics. The 

 spores in the more typical species are of a dark blackish purple, 

 but in others they are of a dark or ferruginous brown. In some 

 instances from imperfect development, they never acquire their 

 proper colour, while in others the gills are absolutely barren, 

 and in consequence assume a very abnormal appearance, a 

 circumstance which occurs also amongst the dung Agarics or 

 Ooprini. 



Psalliota (from ■^raktuv, a collar) is distinguished by the 

 hymenium being absolutely distinct from the stem, the gills 

 being rounded behind and free, and also by the presence of a 

 ring. All the species grow upon ground more or less richly 

 manured, and in some the spores seem to require to pass 

 through the stomach of some graminivorous animal, to facili- 

 tate their germination, a circumstance which accounts for the 

 occurrence of the common mushroom wherever horse manure 

 is present. 



It is difficult in this subgenus to say what is a species, what 

 a variety, but some forms at least seem to stand out more 

 especially above the rest. 



Perhaps the most beautiful of British Agarics is one which 

 occurred in Flintshire two years since, and which, from grow- 

 ing in the district of Elwy, was named A. elvensis. The 

 pileus, which is six inches across, is fibrillose, and broken up 

 into large persistent brown scales, the disk areolate, and the 

 margin covered with pyramidal warts, and from its pleasant 

 taste and smell is undoubtedly esculent. A. cretaceus, of 

 whose esculent qualities little is known, is remarkable for the 

 stem being deeply sunk into the flesh of the pileus, as in 

 Agaricus 'procerus, and for the very pale gills and spores, in con- 

 sequence of which, some doubt has. occasionally been enter- 

 tained as to its real affinities ; and it has been sought for 

 either in Lepiota or Pluteus. It occurs occasionally in hot- 

 houses and about cultivated grounds, but generally in very 

 small quantities, and is often solitary. 



