RARE AGARIC. 
91 
dissolution of vegetable matter is effected solely by the 
agency of insects or parasitic plants, Nature having 
various ways of accomplishing her purposes ; but only 
mean to contend that, in numerous cases, these weak 
instruments are made use of to accelerate the decay 
j and dispersion of it. 
We are not favorably circumstanced for any great 
abundance of the race of fungi : the old fir grove, 
which produces such varieties, and the oak and birch 
copses, which have shed their leaves for ages, and given 
rise to many, are not found with us ; yet we have a 
small scattering too, some of which are perhaps not 
undeserving of notice ; and, though rather partial to a 
class which has afforded me many hours of gratification 
and delight, yet, sensible of the little interest they 
generally create, I must limit my mention to a very 
few. 
The odorous agaric (agaricus odorus) may perhaps 
be locally found in plenty, but to me it has always 
been a plant of rare occurrence. Its colors are delicate 
and modest, rather than splendid, and a near acquaint- 
ance only makes us sensible of the justness of its name. 
We have another scented agaric (agaricus fragrans), 
much more commonly to be met with, which diffuses 
its fragrance to some distance : but the former species 
does not spread its fragrance until brought into a tem- 
perate apartment, when it fills the room with an odor 
like that proceeding from the heliotrope, or from fresh 
bitter almonds, and communicates it to our gloves, or 
whatever it touches. I have found it sparingly here 
among dry beech leaves in Wolf-ridge copse. 
There is a rare, local, and I believe unnoticed agaric, 
trailing its long roots in October among the small de- 
cayed fragments of some old hedge, elegant in itself, 
but more remarkable from the colored fluid it contains, 
which upon being wounded it emits, not as a milky 
fluid, but like an orange-colored, tasteless, spirituous 
extract, long retaining its color upon paper, and tinge- 
ing the hand like the celandine, or blood-wort, (san- 
guinalis canadensis); and hence I have called it a 
“stainer.” Every part discharges this ichor, but it 
