aking sauce;
but we must confess that even in this way, and with a prejudice in
favour of Viennese cookery, our experience of it was not satisfactory.
It is at best a sorry substitute for the mushroom. In the summer and
autumn this is a very common species in large tufts on old stumps. In
similar localities, and also in tufts, but neither so large, nor so
common, _Agaricus fusipes_ is found. It is preferable to the foregoing
as an esculent, and is easily recognized by the spindle-shaped stem.

_Agaricus rubescens_, P., belongs to a very suspicious group of
fungi, in which the cap or pileus is commonly studded or sprinkled
with paler warts, the remains of an investing volva. To this group
the poisonous but splendid fly-agaric (_Agaricus muscarius_)
belongs. Notwithstanding its bad company, this agaric has a good
reputation, especially for making ketchup; and Cordier reports it
as one of the most delicate mushrooms of the Lorraine.[C] Its name
is derived from its tendency to become red when bruised.

The white variety of an allied species (_Agaricus vaginatus_) has been
commended, and Dr. Badham says that it will be found inferior to but
few agarics in flavour.

A scaly-capped fungus (_Agaricus procerus_), with a slender stem,
called sometimes the parasol mushroom, from its habit, is an esteemed
esculent. In Italy and France it is in high request, and is included
in the majority of continental works on the edible fungi.[D] In
Austria, Germany, and Spain, it has special "vulgar" names, and is
eaten in all these countries. It is much more collected in England
than formerly, but deserves to be still better known. When once seen
it can scarcely be confounded with any other British species, save one
of its nearest allies, which partakes of its own good qualities
(_Agaricus rachodes_), though not quite so good.

_Agaricus prunulus_, Scop., and _Agaricus orcella_, Badh., if they be
not forms of the same species (which Dr. Bull contends that they are
not[E]), have also a good reputation as esculents. They are both neat,
white agarics, with a mealy odour, growing respectively in woods and
open glades. _Agaricus nebularis_, Batsch, is a much larger species,
found in woods, often in large gregarious patches amongst dead leaves,
with a smoky mouse-coloured pileus, and profuse white spores. It is
sometimes as much as five or six inches in diameter, with rather a
faint odour and mild taste. On the continent, as well as in Britain,