500 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'. 



white, the stem has no ring or collar, and the odour is distinctly strong. 

 Moreover, it has a habit of growing either in rings or parts of rings, in 

 which feature it bears a resemblance to the Horse Mushroom. As an 

 esculent this species is welcome, since it nourishes at a period of the 

 year when very few edible Agarics are to be found, and it possesses 

 somewhat the flavour of the true Mushroom, for which it is an excellent 

 substitute. 



(9) Blewits : Triclwloma per sonata (Fries). 



Another very useful white-spored Agaric is that which is known in 

 the Midlands and elsewhere as Blewits ; under which name it is offered 

 for sale in the Nottingham market, and is highly appreciated by the 

 natives. In habit and size it resembles the St. George's Mushroom, 

 though not a spring but an autumnal species, and there is commonly a 

 violet- blue colour about the stem and sometimes the gills, from whence 

 it- name is derived. It has not the strong odour of the St. George's 

 Mushroom, is somewhat milder in flavour, and does not assume a more 

 or less annular mode of growth. There is sometimes a tinge of lilac 

 also on the dusky pileus or cap. It is found growing principally in 

 pastures, but appears to be somewhat local in its distribution, since we 

 have never seen it growing in Essex or Middlesex, but have known it 

 collected and served at hotel dinners in Kent. 



(10) Blue Caps: Tricholoma nuda (Bulliard*. 



Scarcely inferior to the Blewits or St. George's Mushroom is the 

 ' Blue Caps,' which are often to be gathered in quantity amongst dead 

 leaves in woods and sometimes on rubbish heaps, since it is gregarious in 

 its habits. When young it is wholly of a delicate violet -blue, but with 

 age the pileus often becomes ruddy and the stem mealy. It is usually 

 three or four inches in diameter, but sometimes five or six inches ; some- 

 what like the Mushroom in form and proportions, but the cap soon 

 becomes depressed and concave, quite smooth and dry. The gills are of 

 the same colour as the cap, and the spores are white. 



As an esculent it is tender and mild, with less flavour than the Mush- 

 room or even the St. George's, but still pleasant and digestible, although 

 some fungus-eaters consider it rather indigestible, but that probably is 

 more the fault of the liver of the consumer than of the fungus itself. 

 Those who are acquainted with it never lose a chance of eating it, and it 

 has the merit of being so characteristic that when once known there is no 

 chance of confounding it with anything else. It may be cooked in any 

 way of which the Mushroom is capable, and may be found in the late 

 summer or early autumn. Like most of its kind, it is preferable when 

 young, and before the pileus assumes its ruddy tinge. 



(11) Dusky Caps: Clitocybe nebularis (Batsch). 



Similar In firmness of flesh, and in flavour and edible value, to the 

 immediately foregoing is the 'Dusky Caps,' which attains a considerable 



