s, is generally found in thickets,
under trees.

AGARICUS PERSONATUS.

Blewits. Blue Hats. _Cooke._

This is one of the species occasionally sold in Covent-Garden Market,
London. When mature, it has a soft, convex, moist, smooth pileus, with a
solid, somewhat bulbous stem, tinted with lilac. The gills are
dirty-white, and rounded towards the stem.

The _Agaricus personatus_ constitutes one of the very few mushrooms
which have a market value in England. It is quite essential that it
should be collected in dry weather, as it absorbs moisture readily, and
is thereby injured in flavor, and rendered more liable to decay.

AGARICUS PRUNULUS. _Vitt._ _M'Int._

This is found only in spring, growing in rings on the borders of
wood-lands; at which time abundance of its spawn may be procured, and
may be continued in the same way that the spawn of the common cultivated
Mushroom is; namely, by transplanting it into bricks of loam and
horse-dung, in which it will keep for months.

This mushroom is used both in its green and dried state. In the latter
it constitutes what is called "Funghi di Genoa," and is preserved by
being simply cut into four pieces, and dried in the air for a few days;
when it is strung up, and kept for use.

AGARICUS OREADES.

Fairy-ring Agaricus.

There is little difficulty in distinguishing this mushroom, which is
found growing in rings. The pileus is of a brownish-ochre color at
first; becomes paler as it grows older, until it fades into a rich
cream-yellow.

Dr. Badham says, "Independent of the excellent flavor of this little
mushroom, two circumstances make it valuable in a domestic point of
view,--the facility with which it is dried, and its extensive
dissemination." It may be kept for years without losing any of its aroma
or goodness.

* * * * *

BOLETUS. _Fries._

Of this, two species are considered eatable,--the _B. edulis_ and the
_B. scaber_; the former resembling the Common Mushroom in taste, and the
latter of good quality while in a young, fresh state, but of little
value when dried, as it loses much of its odor, and becomes insipid, and
unfit for use.

* * * * *

CLAVARIA.

All the species are edible, and many of them indigenous to our woods;
being usually found in damp, shady places.

* * * * *

THE MOREL. _M'Int._

Morchella esculenta.

[Illustration: The Morel.]

In