200 
CRYPTOGAMIA. FUNGI. Agaricus. 
This is one of those Agarics which possess all the parts belonging to the 
Genus, and being on a large scale, is well fitted for instructing the 
learner to understand them. In its embryo state it is enclosed in a 
wrapper, and is equal in size to a pullet’s egg. If this be cut through 
vertically, the section brings to view the gills, the pileus, the stem 
as yet imperfectly formed, and the curtain extending from the stem 
to the edge of the pileus, the remnants of which in a more advanced state 
of growth, are sometimes observable fringing the edge of the pileus, and 
always forming a broad ring round the upper part of the stem. A good 
drawing of it in its egg-state may be seen in Bulliard, pi. 364. A.—Also 
see our plate 19. 
It is subject to several trifling variations : 
1. —Centre bossed surface very viscid, changing to pale ash-colour. This 
happens principally in the autumn. 
2. —Proliferous; another smaller one growing on the pileus of a larger 
plant. This I have seen when growing in the rank soil of a hot-bed 
in the middle of summer. 
(Bulbous-stemmed Agaric. Ag. bulbosus. SchaefF. Pers. Purt. E.) Ag. 
ovoides albus. Bull. Ag. vernalis. Bolt. It may be found from spring 
to the end of autumn in rich soil. Not unfrequent in gardens, particularly 
on the sides and the base of hot-beds. I have seen it on a mushroom 
bed with Ag. campestris . There are still other varieties figured in 
plates 577 and 597 of Bulliard’s Agarics. 
*Var. 2. Pileus dusky mouse, set with warts of rather a paler colour. 
Bull. 59 3— also the plate without a number , named Ag. solitarius — Bolt. 47. 
Gills four in a set, but irregular. Stem four or five inches high; the curtain 
remaining on it. Bolt. 
Ag. verrucosus. Bolt, but none of his synonyms. 
In woods about the roots of trees, but rare. In the Shroggs opposite Bilk's 
Hall. Bolt. 
*Var. 3. Pileus scarlet, with white blotches, the fragments of the inner 
wrapper. 
Bolt. 46. 
Gills loose, four in a set. Pileus convex, smooth. Flesh thick, white, brittle. 
Stem firm, solid, brittle, cylindrical, white. Curtain white, forming a per¬ 
manent ring. Bolton. 
Ag. nobilis. Bolt. In a plantation at Mill’s Bridge near Huddersfiejd. 
Var. 4. Pileus scurfy : seem hardly two inches high. 
In pastures. Autumn. 
Ag. confer'tus. (Bolt.) Gills brownish white, thin, uniform; 
pileus white, conical, cottony: stem white, tapering upwards. 
Bolt. 18 —(Not Bull. Ag. digitaliformis , that having a hollow stem.) 
Gills loose, uniform, numerous, thin and delicate, white with a pale tinge of 
pale brown. 
Pileus conical, pointed, white, yellowish brown at the apex, smooth, light, 
cottony ; withers in decay, from half to one inch in diameter at bottom, 
and as much in height. 
Stem solid, white, gently tapering upwards, two inches high, thick as a 
swallow’s quill. Curtain white, very evanescent. Bolt. 
(Crowded Cottony Agaric. E.) Ag. confertus . Bolt. Amongst bark 
in hot-houses. Nov. 1785. 
