44 
AGARICUS GIGANTEUS AND A. MAXIMUS. 
compact, and hard without and within, 24 in. long, 1-2 in. thick, 
equal, even, smooth. Gills a little decurrent, numerous, crowded, 
3 lines broad (two or three times as broad as the flesh of the pileus), 
connected by veins, thin, fragile, whitish, then yellowish or rufescent, 
soon mealy with the white spores. 
In grassy places. 
This is distinguished by its robust form, resembling Lactarius 
vellereus, short, thick stem, shallow saucer-shaped pileus, some- 
times margin sulcate ; gills a little decurrent, 3 lines or more 
broad, thin and splitting, mealy ; often very gregarious. 
Berkeley’s description of this species is not literally the same as 
that given by Fries ; it was published under 987 in Annals of Nat. 
Hist., 1865, and employed in preference for the British form, in 
Cooke’s “ Handbook ” (2nd edition), No. 161, as follows : — 
“ Pileus infundibuliform, not umbonate, slightly flocculose, 
white, opaque ; stem equal, thick ; gills white, then yellowish, 
shortly decurrent.” 
He also states that “ the pileus is slightly viscid when moist, 
9 in. across, with a stem 21 in. high, 1 in. thick ; ” but he does not 
think it represented by Sowerby’s figure. Afterwards he held it 
to be represented by “ Illustrations,” PI. 106, which may be 
accepted as the Ag. giganteus of Berkeley, but whether of Fries or 
of Sowerby may be left an open question. The description in 
Berkeley’s “ Outlines,” p. 110, is dated 1860, and therefore prior 
to his description given independently in 1865. 
Agaricus (Clitocybe) maximus. Fr. Epic. p. 67. Mon. i., 119. Hym. 
Fur. 93. Buxb. c. iv., t. 1. 
Pileus fleshy, disc compact, otherwise thin, rather flaccid (not 
splitting), broadly infundibuliform, umbo-central gibbous (to a 
foot broad) ; always very dry, surface silky, smooth, or squamulose, 
tan, growing pale or whitish. Margin involute, pubescent, always 
even ; flesh white, at length soft. Stem solid, compact, but 
spongy within, elastic, 4 in. long, 1 in. thick, attenuated upwards, 
fibrillose, striate, whitish. Gills deeply decurrent, attenuated to 
each end, rather crowded, soft, simple, whitish, not changing. 
Odour faint, pleasant. 
In shady woods, amongst leaves. 
A large species with a deeply funnel-shaped pileus, flesh thin 
and flaccid, except at the disc ; gills narrow, gradually attenuated 
to each end, deeply decurrent behind. Stem long, from 4 to 8 in. ; 
spongy within, striate with fibrils externally. 
Berkeley (Annals Nat. Hist., No. 987) refers Sowerby’s Plate 
244 to this species, whilst Fries (Hym. Eur., 401) refers it to his 
Paxillus giganteus. Hence it can hardly be considered typical of 
either. 
The description given under the name of Agaricus giganteus , 
Sow., in English Flora, p. 33, is supposed to be represented by 
