140 
THE LARGER FUNGI 
Gills ascending. 
I’ilcus dark brown, drying pale brownish, 
edge striate when moist. Gills fuscous. 
Stem 2in., slender. Spores dark 
purplish brown t'o porphyry, 12 to 14.5 
x 7 to S 217. Ps. sterckola. 
Amongst, moss. 
Pileus about [in., umbonate. Stem pallid 
brownish. Spores porphyry-coloured, 7.5 to 
10.5 x o ts 6 (i 216. Ps. mux*. 
At the base of rotting stumps. 
Densely eehiuulate when young. Pileus dark 
fuscous, drying paler. Spores bronzy 
brown, 7 to' 7.5 x 4 /i. Subcaespitose .. 218. P. eclunata. 
Amongst grass, on lawns, etc, 
Pileus caiupanulato-convex, dingy lirown. Gills 
aduate, fuscous, edges white. Stem to Hill., 
slender, rufescent. Spores brownish-black, 
11.2 to 13 x 7.5 g 219. Ps. focnirasil. 
1. Veil accidental, rarely conspicuous. Stem thick-skinned, flexible, most 
frequently coloured. Pileus pellieulose, most frequently slightly viscid 
in wet weather, becoming somewhat pale. Colour of pileus bright. 
*Gills ventricose, not decurreiit. 
209. Psilocybe sarcocephala l'r. (Or., sarx, flesh; hephnle, a head). Pileus 
2 to din. (5 to 7.5 c-m,), at first almost hemispherical, when adult convex and a 
little irregular or slightly dimpled, finally sometimes with the edge upturned, 
sometimes slightly gibbous, when young Cinnamon Buff (xxix.) with Russet 
(xxix.) tints, then Xaval Brown (xxix.) or Mikado Brown (xxix.) or Orange 
Cinnamon (xxix.) in the centre, paler and fleshy white towards .lie periphery, 
sometimes pallid with a brownish tint all over, slightly viscid when moist, smooth 
to slightly (ibrillose. Occasionally a fibrous or araclimoid veil is seen when 
young, leaving fibres or a slight ring on the stem. Gills slightly but definitely 
sinuate, broadly adnexed, occasionally adnate, moderately close, ventricose, at 
first nearly white, then pallid salmon-coloured, then almost a mushroom tint but 
not so vivid (Buff Pink, xxvm.), finally brownish-salmon. Stem if to Him (4.3 
to 7.5 cm.), i to fin. (6 to 12 nun.) thick, stout to slender, mealy above, slightly 
fibrillose, base a little thickened, solid or somewhat hollow, white, sometimes 
stained fuscous brown below. Flesh white, moist looking. Blight smell like 
mushrooms. Caespitose or gregarious. Spores in the mass dull vinous brown, 
microscopically dull brown with a vinous tint, oblique, one end more pointed, 
8.5 to 1 I x 4 to 5.5 g, occasionally 13.5 x 0.5 P~ Under trees and bushes. South 
Australia — Mount Lofty, Mylor, McLaren Vale, Mount Burr State Forest (S.E.). 
New South Wales. May to July. 
The above description is from Australian specimens referred to this species. 
P. sarcocephala is edible but Australian plants have not been eaten. The task 
of thus testing them should lie undertaken with the utmost circumspection. The 
species resembles somewhat the common mushroom but does not grow in the 
snme situations; the tints of the cap are however not quite the same, the gills 
are not so vividly pink, and there is no well-marked ring on the stem. The species 
is anomalous in the purple-spored group, as the spores are only slightly vinous, 
it is apt to be looked for amongst the brown or even the pink-spored species. 
210, Psilocybe Ceres Cke. et Mass. (L., Ceres, the Goddess of Corn), — Pileus 
up to Liin. (3.7 cm.), convex, then expanded and slightly umbonate, smooth, 
the veil separating early and remaining slightly attached to t lie edge of the 
pileus, colour various tint's of reddish brown (morocco red, apricot orange, 
liliaceous rufous, brick red or in places near the colour of tomatoes). Gills 
sinuato-aduexed, moderately crowded, greyish-brown becoming purplish-brown 
(Front’s Brown, xv., Saccaido's Olive, xvt.). Stem up to 4in. (10 cm.), wavy, 
slender, shining, faintly striate, firm and cartilaginous, tile base slightly swollen 
and attenuated upwards, strigose at' the base, solid, later hollow, reddish brown 
below and pale above or the colour of the pilous but paler. Spores elliptical, 
