CURIOUS MUSHROOMS. 
BY W. B. GROVE, M.A. 
At tlie beginning of October last year, Mr. J. Edmonds brought 
me a curious double mushroom which had been formed on his 
mushroom bed. The lower individual grew upon the spawn in the 
ordinary way, but the stem was rather more bulbous than usual 
at the base ; the apex of its pileus was narrowed into a very sharp 
umbo or peak, which the base of the stem of the upper one embraced 
closely, like a volva or socket. There appeared to be little organic 
connection between them, but at first the two were so firmly 
attached to each other that they would support each other’s weight. 
At the time when the annexed photographs* were taken, the 
upper mushroom was beginning to lose its vigour, and had become 
less upright than it was at first, so that the edge of its pileus was 
resting against the pileus of the other. But when fresh it stood 
upright without any support other than what it derived from the 
attachment of its base. The base of the lower specimen was 
fringed as usual with a number of broken ends of mycelial liyphse, 
but the expanded base of the upper one was without any apparent 
signs of such a fringe. The gills and rings of both specimens were 
normal. 
It is not uncommon in a state of nature to find the pilei of two 
fungi connected together in various ways. I have seen two 
specimens of Russula (e.g. t R. fragilis) growing side by side, and 
intimately united along the chord of one-third of their circum¬ 
ferences, while still both remaining upright and attached to the 
earth. Sometimes, again, one of two so united will grow faster 
than the other, and by so doing drag its smaller companion from 
the substratum, and finally elevate it in the air, or even invert it. 
It is by some such process that we can account for the many 
cases where one agaric is found growing upside down upon the 
pileus of another. Mr. Worthington Smith has figured a specimen 
^Unfortunately, Mr. Edmonds’ excellent photographs were spoilt by the 
person to whom they were entrusted for reproduction, and could not be 
replaced by others equally good. The annexed lithographs are very accurate 
copies, however, though on a smaller scale. 
February, 1893. 
