No fungus requires to be eaten so soon after gathering as this; a few hours will destroy the compactness of the flesh and change its colour from delicate-white to dirty-yellow;[191] but when perfectly fresh and properly prepared, it yields to no other in digestibility. It may be dressed in many ways, but the best method is to cut it into slices and fry these in egg and bread-crumbs; so prepared, it has the flavour of a rich, light omelette.[192] AGARICUS MELLEUS. PLATE IX. FIG. 3. Subgenus 3. AMILLARIA. This is a nauseous, disagreeable fungus, however cooked, and merely finds mention here, as its omission in a work on the esculent funguses of England might seem strange to those unacquainted with its demerits; it is really extraordinary how some Continental writers, speaking from their own experience, should ever have recommended it for the table. Pliny’s general _apage_ against all funguses really finds an application to this, which is so repugnant to our notions of the savoury, that few would make a second attempt, or get dangerously far in a first dish. Not to be poisonous is its only recommendation; for as to the inviting epithet _melleus_, or honeyed, by which it is designated, this alludes only to the colour, and by no means to the taste, which is both harsh and styptic. _Bot. Char._ In tufts, near or upon stumps of trees, or posts. Pileus dirty-yellow, more or less hairy; _stem_ fibrous, varying greatly in length, from one inch to nine or ten; enlarged above and below, thinner in the middle; _ring_ thick, spreading, rough or leathery; _gills_ somewhat decurrent, deeper than the pileus; _spores_ white, appearing like fine dust on the gills. AGARICUS ULMARIUS, _Bull._ Subgenus PLEUROPUS. Subdivision ÆGERITARIA. “Fungo mangiativo sommamente ricercato e di ottima qualità.”—_Vitt._ _Bot. Char._ Solitary or connected to others by a common root; the _pileus_ presenting a dirty-white surface, turning afterwards to a pale rust-colour, and sometimes tessellated; varying like all parasitical funguses in shape, but generally more or less orbicular; flesh continuous with the stalk, white, compact; _stalk_ very thick, solid, elastic, smooth towards the summit, tomentose at the base; _gills_ of a yellowish tint, broad, thick, ventricose, emarginate, _i. e._ terminating upon the surface of the stem in a receding angle; the imperfect gills few; _taste_ and _smell_ agreeable; _spores_ white.