CRYPTOGAMIA. FUNGI. Merulius. 
143 
and then seems principally to consist of water, adhering to the fingers. 
(The fibres probably either simple or branched, as are those of the fol¬ 
lowing. 
White Deliquescent Cellar Byssus. Fibrillaria vinaria. Sowerby. 
Racodium cellare. Pers. Hook. E.) In damp cellars and vaults. 
P. May—Dec.* 
Var. 2. (Fibres short, matted. E.) 
Dill. 1. 12. 
Pale yellowish or reddish, changing to glaucous green, then red brown and 
at length blackish; in colour, substance, and softness somewhat resem¬ 
bling the skin of a mouse. At first it is flat, but one layer growing upon 
another, it becomes gradually raised. It consists of fibres, too fine to be 
observed by the naked eye, at first upright, afterwards matted together. 
It generally grows in a circular form. Dill. (Fibres either simple or 
branched; the branches few, short, standing at right angles, either 
opposite or irregular. 
Matted Mouse-skin Byssus. E.) On wine casks.f 
B. cryptaTium. Hair-like; perennial; ash-coloured, tough. 
Dill 1. 20. 
Threads half an inch long, thick as a hair, dirty white, brittle, not 
branched, crowded, diverging from a centre. Dill. 
On the sides of caverns in limestone rocks, and on plastered walls in vaults. 
P. Jan.—Dec. 
FUNGI, t 
MERU'LHJS.^ Fileus with gills or veins underneath, of 
the same substance with the rest of the 
plant. 
(1) With a Stem , and Gills underneath. 
M. androsa'ceus. Gills white, decurrent: pileus white, convex, 
Centre depressed : stem red brown below, shining. 
Vaill xi. 21. 21. 22. 23—( Bocc. Muse. 143. t. 104, is also quoted by 
Dinnceus .)— Bull. 559. 2 —(Sowerby 94>. E.) 
Gills extremely thin. Pileus membranaceous, plaited. Stem black, very 
slender. Linn. VaiJlant observes that his figures represent the largest 
* It destroys the consistence of the hardest wood. Linn. 
-f- (When compressed resembles the skin of a mouse: and may be used as an excel¬ 
lent styptic. Gray. E.) 
$ (The number of innocuous and esculent Fungi are generally supposed to be but few, 
perhaps not exceeding a d6zen; and the danger incurred by making experiments to 
ascertain the qualities of others, would scarcely be compensated by any probable result. 
In the “ Decade Philosophique,” we find a plan of treatment said to be very successful 
incases where persons have unhappily eaten deleterious kinds of Fungi: “Excite 
vomiting promptly, employ laxatives and clysters, and after the first evacuations administer 
a dram of sulphuric ether in a glass of water of marshmallows or other emollient.” E.) 
^ (A name adopted by Haller, for this genius, (but by no means peculiarly appli¬ 
cable ) from John Bauhin, who denominated certain Fungi, Merulius, or Metulius, 
from Meta, a pillar of demarcation having a round top ; also meaning an upper mill¬ 
stone hich we deem at least equally capable of affording a similitude. E.) 
