AGARIC

(Agaria, a kingdom 'in '^aymdlta^ A genus of fungi comprehending mariy hundred species, among which are, A. campestris, the common mushroom, and some others, which are delicate articles of food; A. muscarius and others that are dangerous poisons; many of the disgusting deliquescent fungi called toadstools; and numerous beautiful little ephemeral species, which appear to be harmle : A. olearius is remarkable for being phosphorescent. These plants uniformly grow in decaying animal or vegetable matter, among which their stem, or spawn, as it is commonly called, ramifies. After the spawn has arrived at the proper age, it ceases to branch, collects into parcels, and generates from those parcels the fructification, which forces its way into the light under the form of the agaric. The cap is the part where the spores or seeds for reproducing the species are generated; they are formed within the plates or gills that lie on the under side of the cap, and are little grey round bodies, which, when they are collected in great quantities upon a sheet of white paper, have the appearance of exceedingly fine dust. " Fairy rings " are caused by the underground stems of agarics which branch from a common centre, and only protrude their fructification at the circumference. [s. 34]