GROWS in rings or groups in rich lawns or roadsides. =TO COOK.= For serving with meat or fish, cut the tops clear from the stems just below the gills. To a pint of mushrooms, if moist, add about a gill of water, pepper and salt to the taste, and a piece of butter half the size of an egg. Simmer together over the fire ten or fifteen minutes, thicken with flour or ground rice, and pour over the cooked meat or fish. =TO BROIL.= Place the tops like oysters on a fine wire gridiron; as soon as they are hot, butter them lightly, and salt and pepper to the taste. Put them back over the coals, and when they are heated through they are cooked. Butter them, if required, and place in a hot dish. N. B. When the mushrooms are dried, swell them in water before cooking.] [Illustration: PLATE IV. AGARICUS CRETACEUS, OR CHALK MUSHROOM. =DESCRIPTION.= PILEUS. Pure white, dry at first, nearly globular, then bell-shaped, finally expanded and becoming darker, even smoky in color. In early growth very brittle, cuticle always peeling easily. GILLS. At first pure white, then pinkish, finally rusty; withered in color and texture; always turning pink or dark if exposed to dry heat. STEM. Hollow, bulbous at base in small specimens, then elongated and equal; leaves the socket easily, without breaking into the gills. VOLVA. None; veil distinct and entire, enclosing the gills at first, then ruptured, forming the ring. SPORES. Pale pink or rosy. TASTE, mild, agreeable, but insipid. ODOR, none. Grows in lawns and richly cultivated grass plots; rarely or never in forests. =TO COOK.= This mushroom, while sweet and of firm body, has little or no flavor of its own. It may, therefore, be best to stew it as directed under Plate I., with milk, or under Plate III., with water; in either case mixing some proportion of either or all of the three preceding kinds. In such case, it will completely absorb their flavor. For those who like spices it is very nice cooked as number three for meat or fish, adding to that receipt chopped parsley, an onion, or a clove of garlic, chopped fine, with a tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce. If served with any meat making an abundant gravy, cook as directed under the plate of Edible Russulas.] [Illustration: PLATE V. AGARICUS PROCERUS, OR PARASOL MUSHROOM. =DESCRIPTION.= PILEUS. Brown from first to last; thick skinned, very scaly and shaggy; at first egg-shaped, then swollen, finally expanded, a little point in the centre becoming prominent; always pliable and leathery. GILLS. Pure white. STEM. Fibrous, hollow, equal in size, freckled, deeply sunk into the cap, from which it withdraws free from the gills, leaving a deep socket. VOLVA. None; veil ragged, ring well defined and movable. SPORES. White. TASTE sweetish, not marked; ODOR slight. GROWS in open fields and lawns or margins of forests.