Indiana, _H.I. Miller_; Minnesota, _B.L. Taylor_; West Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_. Unless the numerical system of John Ph[oe]nix to express degrees of quality is adopted by a mycophagists' congress, and one species of fungus is chosen as the standard of excellence, the comparative excellence of species will never be settled. English epicures shun A. arvensis; the French prefer it. Berkeley says it is inferior to the common mushroom; Vittadini says it is very sapid and very nutritious. So opinion varies. Individual tastes must decide excellence. Comparison never will. Toadstools differ in substance, texture and taste as one meat or vegetable differs from another. Beef could not be chosen as the standard for meats, or cabbage as the standard for vegetables. Agaricus arvensis is good. [Illustration: Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine. PLATE XCIV.] PAGE. AGARICUS MAGNIFICUS. PECK, 342 A new species of Agaricus. =A. magni´ficus= Pk.—magnificent. (Plate XCIV.) =Pileus= 5–15 cm. (2–6 in.) broad, fleshy, thick, convex, becoming nearly plane or centrally depressed, bare, often wavy and split on the margin, white or whitish, often brownish in the center. =Flesh= 1.5–2 cm. (½ in.) thick in the center, thin on the margin, white, unchangeable. =Gills= numerous, rather broad, close, free, ventricose, white becoming dark purplish brown with age, never pink. =Stem= 10–15 cm. long (4–6 in.), about 2.5 cm. thick (1 in.), firm, stuffed with cottony pith, bulbous or thickened at the base, fibrillose, striate, minutely furfuraceous (covered with scurf) toward the base, ringed, pallid or whitish, the ring thin, persistent, white. =Spores= small, elliptic, 5–6µ long, 3–4µ broad. Gregarious or cespitose; thin woods, Mt. Gretna, Pa. August. _Charles McIlvaine._ A large fine species distinguished from its near allies by the absence of pink hues from the gills. Mr. McIlvaine remarks that it has an anise-like flavor and odor and that when young the whole fungus is tender and high flavored, but when full grown the caps only are edible. _Peck_, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 26, F. 1899. =A. silvic´ola= Vitt.—_silva_, a wood; _colo_, to inhabit. (Plate XCI, fig. 2, p. 332.) (A. arvensis, var. abruptus Pk.; now A. abruptus Pk.) =Pileus= convex or sub-bell-shaped, sometimes expanded or nearly plane, _smooth, shining_, white or yellowish. =Gills= close, thin, free, rounded behind, generally narrowed toward each end, _at first whitish, then pinkish_, finally blackish-brown. =Stem= _long_, cylindrical, stuffed or hollow, white, _bulbous_; ring either thick or thin, entire or lacerated. =Spores= elliptical, 6–8×4–5µ. =Plant= 4–6 in. high. =Pileus= 3–6 in. broad. =Stem= 4–8 lines thick. Woods, copses and groves or along their borders. Summer and autumn. _Peck_, 36th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.