_Pileus_ subirregular, from three and a half to four and a half inches across, at first convex, then more or less excavated towards the centre; for the most part smooth, the epidermis covering it, more or less moist, never scored or fissured, but exhibiting a continuous surface, marked by very small raised lines, radiating as from the centre, and frequently crossing so as to present a very minute finely reticulated meshwork, sometimes slightly zoned, adhering to the flesh of the _pileus_, which peels away with it in flakes resembling asbestos. It is very various in colour, being found of all shades of yellow, lilac, azure, green, and sometimes a mixture of these in different parts. The margin even, _i. e._ not striate, irregularly elevated and depressed. The _gills_ are watery white, rather numerous and thick, ascending, tapering away at their stalk extremity, rather broader at the other, some simple but many of them forked at the base, in a few instances branched; the imperfect gills very few, irregular, occasionally broadly adhering to the side of a perfect gill; the _stalk_ naked, variable as to length and size, equal or attenuated slightly at the base, white like spermaceti, externally rugulose, and meshed, like the pileus, with minute meandering lines, internally stuffed with a compact subfriable medullary substance, which, as the fungus grows old, breaks up here and there into sinuses which gradually coalesce, till at last the whole stem becomes hollow. The parenchyma is compact, but not thick, and does not change colour when cut. The spores white, round, and very abundant. The _taste_ sweet and nutty. _Odour_ none. This excellent fungus, which Vittadini pronounces to be not surpassed for fineness of flavour by _Am. Cæsarea_ or by _B. edulis_, with either of which it is equally wholesome, has been introduced by Roques into the houses of many of his friends in the environs of Paris, some of whom prefer it to _Ag. campestris_: an opinion shared by several of our own friends on this side the Channel. It grows in great abundance during the summer months generally, and this year nowhere more plentifully than under the Elm-trees in Kensington Gardens. There must be no delay in dressing it, otherwise insects, who are as fond of it as we are, appropriate it to their larvæ, which in a few hours will utterly consume it; the flesh, being very tender, requires but slight cooking. _Agaricus ruber_, Schœffer. _Ag. griseus_, Persoon. “L’Agarico Rosso è uno dei funghi più delicati e gustosi che si conoscono.”—_Vitt._