46 AN HISTORY OF AGARICS,
AGARICUS Jiipitatus, pileo hemifpbeerico amplo coccineo, cum
Jragmentis niveis eleganter ornato, volva dupla, radicals
lob at a perjijiante, pileana lacerata.
N O B L E AGARIC.
T A B. XLVI.
' I VHE root approaches to a bulb-fhape, is white, and of a
fubftance fimiliar tp that of the ftem; it is furrounded
with a thick white volva, which enwraps the whole plant in its
infant ftate, and abides till the decay of the plant.
The ftem is firm, folid, brittle, cylindrical, white, upright,
and four inches high.
The curtain is white, pretty firm, and has fome degree of
elafticity; it feparates from the pileus all round the margin,
and abides for fome time like a white ruffle round the ftem.
The gills are arranged in three feries, of a femi-oval fhape,
not adhering to the ftem, of a pure white colour, and foft delicate
fubftance.
The pileus is furrounded by a volva proper to itfelf, detached
and feparate from the radical volva; this is a thin, light,
white dawny epidermis or covering, which enwraps the fubftance
of the pileus, while it is yet enclofed in the radical volva,
and, after its eruption, is by the increafe of the pileus torn in
fragments, which are as white as fnow, • and remaining on its
furface, give an elegant and pleafing appearance to the plant.
The pileus is convex, the rim entire, the colour of its furface
a fine, clear, bright, and glowing fcarlet; is fmooth, and
feels like fine vellum j the fubftance of the flefh is white, thick,
and brittle.
This plant differs from the Agaricus mufcarius, in having a
volva or covering proper to the pileus only, and in having the
gills arranged in three feries.
The fpecimen here figured and deferibed, I gathered in a
plantation at Mills-Bridge, near Huddersjield.