2GG 
THE BOLETI OF THE BIRMINGHAM DISTRICT. 
The last species of this section, B. piperatus, I found once near 
Berkswell; Mr. Bagnall records it for Middleton. Its pungent 
taste, which was very decided, rendered its identification easy. 
In the next section, “ Subtomentosi,” every species but 
one is found here, the exception being the very rare B. rubinus. 
Mr. Bagnall had the good fortune to find the curious B. para¬ 
siticus in the Middleton district in 1884. He records B. 
stria pes from the same locality, and has kindly informed me 
that Mrs. Russell found it at Kenilworth. I came upon 
magnificent specimens of B. variegatus in the woods around 
Coleshill Pool, and of B. variecolor on the edge of Packington 
Park. The peculiar fasciculate scales on the pileus of the 
former, and the beautifully reticulated stem of the latter, 
distinguish them easily from their allies. 
The two remaining species of this section are rather 
common; B. chrysenteron abounds in Sutton Park, and I 
have found it more sparingly about Four Oaks, Hints, Water 
Orton, and Bradnock’s Marsh. B. subtoiuentosus is more 
frequent. I have seen specimens at Sutton Park, Coleshill 
Pool, Middleton, Berkswell, Packington Park, Bradnock’s 
Marsh, Edgbaston Park, Halesowen, Rubery, and the Lickey 
Hills. Withering found it also at Edgbaston, and Purton in 
the Itagley and Oversley Woods. Mr. Bagnall records it 
from Crackley Wood, Kenilworth. These two species closely 
resemble each other, especially in the cracked pileus; they 
are most easily distinguished in the field by the fibrous and 
crimson-streaked stem of B. chrysenteron, and the smoother, 
but ribbed, yellower stem of B. subtornentosus ; in the latter, 
moreover, the stem usually tapers at the base. 
In the next section, “ Calopodes,” again one species is 
unrecorded for this district. Of the other two, B. olivaceus 
appears, so far as can be judged, to be the species intended 
by Withering under this name. He gives the locality as 
“ Hedgebanks, Church Lane, Edgbaston,” where, I fear, it 
would be useless to look for it now. What he calls “ B. 
olivaceus , var.. 2,” from Packington Park, is probably B. pachypus, 
the third species of this section ; this is also recorded by 
Mr. Bagnall from Middleton, etc., and by Mrs. Russell from 
Kenilworth. While not throwing any doubt on the occurrence 
of this species here, I feel bound to state that all the speci¬ 
mens which I have seen exhibited under this name were, in 
my opinion, merely irregular forms of B. eilulis , with which 
their colours exactly agreed. 
The next section, “ Edules,” contains four species, one of 
them not recorded for the district. B. edulis , the “ edible 
Boletus,” is not particularly common, though I have found it 
