CRYPTOGAMIA. FUNGI. Agaricus. 
191 
with 2398 of Haller, who refers to SchsefF 38; a plant not now known to 
exist in England, though probably it will not mtich longer escape the 
observation of our botanists. 
Ag. bulbosus , FI. Angl. is, I believe, the plant before me. Hudson has been 
censured for making this a species different from the violaceus of Lin¬ 
naeus, but his character appears sufficient to discriminate them. He 
does not say, lamellis coeruleis ,” but Cir caerulescentibus,” by which I 
imagine that he means they attain this colour in the progress of growth 
only, and are not originally so. His c< stipes brevis ,” is very expressive, 
and his character of the pileus is tolerably exact. Had he referred to 
SchaefF. 53, instead of 34, which is the violaceus, his readers would have 
understood him better: his reference to Rav has only served to increase 
the confusion. This is one of the Agarics which, like some of the Boleti, 
are much disposed when in pickle, to run into the vinous fermentation. 
(Varnished Chesnut Agaric. Ag. araneosus. var. 2. glducopus. Purt. 
E.) Ag. glaucopus. SchsefF. (Sowerby. Pers. E.) Ag. araneosus. Bull. 
Plantations, Edgbaston ; rare. 5th Sept. 
Var. 2. Gills brown green : stem greenish white. 
Schceff. 42. 
Ag.varius. SchsefF. In Packington Park, Warwickshire. 
Ag. viola'ceus. (Linn.) Gills purple, numerous, eight in a set: 
pileus purple to brown, convex, edge turned down: stem purple, 
cylindrical. 
Ag. stipitatus, pilei margins violaceo tomentoso, stipite ccerulescente lana ferru- 
ginea. FI. Suec. 1226. 
(Sowerby 209. E.)— Schceff". 3. Jig'. 1. 5. 6. monstrous but not uncommon 
varieties — Bull. 250. and 598. 2 — Bolt. 52. tints very deep — Schceff. 56. 
monstrous var ieties — Mich. 74. 1 — Buxb. 4. 22. not at all characteristic 
— Buxb. 4. 11. a monster, but the description agrees~Buxb. 4. 9. cer¬ 
tainly not our plant; Batsch 22. very unlike it. 
Gills fixed: from pale lilac to deep violet; numerous, eight in a set; long 
gills sometimes cloven, and a few of them rather decurrent. 
Pileus purple, or reddish brown, or purple only at the edge, soft, smooth, 
firm, convex, but centrally depressed with age, and cracking at the edge, 
which is always rather turned down; from half an inch to five inches 
over. 
Stem solid, cylindrical, purple, bulbous at the base, from one to four inches 
high, and from a quarter to one inch diameter. Curtain like a cobweb, 
its fragments sometimes left hanging to the edge of the pileus. 
This species differs very much in size, as well as in its tints. In its advanced 
state the pileus loses its lilac colour and assumes a russet hue, yet the 
gills continue Avith little or no change of colour. Here I must remark, 
that a more permanent criterion, as to colour, may be found in the gills, 
than in any other part of the Agarics in general. Major Veliey. 
Pileus large, circular, slightly convex, colour various, from the deepest 
purple to a rusty brown. Gills of a beautiful pale purple, unequal 
lengths. Stem short, thick, solid, swelling at the base. Builiard remarks 
a circumstance which I have observed, that in maturity it emits a plen¬ 
tiful snuff-coloured powder. Mr. Stackhouse. 
(Mr. Purton concurs with Sowerby in thinking this species, and Ag. glau¬ 
copus, are varieties of Ag. araneosus. E.) 
