Spores white.
Taste and smell musky, rather strong, but nutty and agreeable.
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.
AGARICUS CRETACEUS, OR CHALK MUSHROOM.
