Figure 111 is from plants (No. 2953, C. U. herbarium) on rotting log, Ithaca Flats, October, 1898.



Pleurotus petaloides Bull. Edible.—The petal-like agaric is so called from the fancied resemblance of the plant to the petal of a flower. The plant usually grows in a nearly upright or more or less ascending position, or when it grows from the side of a trunk it is somewhat shelving. It is somewhat spathulate in form, i. e., broad at the free end and tapering downward into the short stem in a wedge-shaped manner, and varies from 2—10 cm. long and 1—5 cm. in breadth. It grows on fallen branches or trunks, on stumps, and often apparently from the ground, but in reality from underground roots or buried portions of decayed stumps, etc.



The pileus varies from a regular wedge-shape to spathulate, or more or less irregularly petaloid, or conchoid forms, the extremes of size and form being shown in Figs. 112, 113. The margin is at first involute, finally fully expanded, and the upper surface is nearly plane or somewhat depressed. The color is often a pale reddish brown, or brown, and sometimes pure white. The margin is sometimes marked with fine striations when moist. The upper portion near the union with the stem is sometimes tomentose, sometimes smooth. The gills are narrow, white, or yellowish, crowded and strongly decurrent. While the plant varies greatly in form and size, it is easily recognized by the presence of numerous short whitish cystidia in the hymenium, which bristle over the surface of the hymenium and under a pocket lens present a "fuzzy" appearance to the lamellae. They are 70—80 x 10—12 mu. The spores are white.

Figures 112, 113 are from plants collected at Ithaca.

Pleurotus serotinus Schrad. This is an interesting plant and occurs during the autumn on dead trunks, branches, etc., in the woods. The stem is wanting, and the cap is shelving, dimidiate, reniform or suborbicular. The plants occur singly or are clustered and overlapping, about the same size and position as Claudopus nidulans, from which it is readily told by its white gills and spores. The color varies from dull yellow to brownish, often with shades of olive or green.

Pleurotus applicatus Batsch.—This is a pretty little species and usually occurs on much decayed wood, lying close to the ground so that it is usually directly on the under side of the log or branch. It does occur, however, on the side of the log when it is more or less shelving, because of the tendency of the pileus always to be more or less horizontal.



The pileus is 4—6 mm. broad, its upper surface closely applied to the wood or bark on which it is growing when it appears directly on the under side. The margin is sometimes free and involute. Sometimes it is attached only by the center of the pileus. There is then often a short process. When it grows on the side of the log it is attached laterally, or on the upper side of one margin, while the greater portion of the pileus is free and shelving. The surface is smooth or somewhat hairy. The color varies from gray to dark bluish gray, or black with a bluish tinge. The gills are thick, broad in proportion to the size of the cap, distant, and are said by some to be paler than the pileus. In plants collected at Ithaca, the gills are often as dark as the pileus. The entire plant is rather tough, and revives after being dried if placed in water, resembling in this respect Marasmius, Panus, or Trogia, and it may be more nearly related to one of these. Figure 114 is from plants (No. 4599, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca.

HYGROPHORUS Fries.



The genus Hygrophorus is one which presents some difficulties in the case of some of the species, especially to beginners, and plants need to be studied in the fresh condition to understand the most important character which separates it from certain of the other white-spored agarics. The substance of the pileus is continuous with that of the stem, that is, the stem is not easily separated from the cap at the point of junction, but is more or less tenacious. The gills may be adnexed, adnate, sinuate, or decurrent, but what is important they are usually rather distant, the edge is acute or sharp, and gradually thickened toward the junction with the cap, so that a section of the gill is more or less triangular. This is brought about by the fact that the substance of the cap extends downward into the gill between the laminae or surfaces of the gill. But the most important character for determining the genus is the fact that the surfaces of the gills become rather of a waxy consistency at maturity, so that they appear to be full of a watery substance though they do not bleed, and the surface of the gill can be rather easily removed, leaving the projecting line of the trama. This is more marked in some species than in others. The waxy consistency of the gills then, with the gills acute at the edge, broad at the point of attachment to the pileus, and the gills being rather widely separated are the important characters in determining the species which belong to this genus. The nearest related genus is Cantharellus, which, however, has blunt and forked gills. A number of the plants are brilliantly colored.



Hygrophorus chrysodon (Batsch.) Fries. Edible.—This plant has about the same range as Hygrophorus eburneus, though it is said to be rare. It is a very pretty plant and one quite easily recognised because of the uniform white ground color of the entire plant when fresh, and the numerous golden floccules or squamules scattered over the cap and the stem. The name chrysodon means golden tooth, and refers to these numerous golden flecks on the plant. A form of the plant, variety leucodon, is said to occur in which these granules are white. The plant is 4—7 cm. high, the cap 4—7 cm. broad, and the stem 6—10 mm. in thickness. The plants grow on the ground in the woods, or rather open places, during late summer and autumn.

The pileus is convex, then expanded, the margin strongly involute when young, and unrolling as the cap expands, very viscid, so that particles of dirt and portions of leaves, etc., cling to it in drying. The golden or light yellow granules on the surface are rather numerous near the margin of the pileus, but are scattered over the entire surface. On the margin they sometimes stand in concentric rows close together. The gills are white, distant, decurrent, 3—6 mm. broad, white, somewhat yellowish in age and in drying, and connected by veins. The spores white, oval to ovate, the longer ones approaching elliptical, 6—10 x 5—6 mu.

The stem is soft, spongy within, nearly equal, white, the yellowish granules scattered over the surface, but more numerous toward the apex, where they are often arranged in the form of a ring. When the plant is young these yellow granules or squamules on the stem and the upper surface of the inrolled margin of the pileus meet, forming a continuous layer in the form of a veil, which becomes spread out in the form of separated granules as the pileus expands, and no free collar is left on the stem.

Figure 115 is from plants (No. 3108, C. U. herbarium) collected in October, 1898, in woods, and by roadsides, Ithaca, N. Y.

Hygrophorus eburneus (Bulliard) Fries. Edible.—This plant is widely distributed in Europe and America. It is entirely white, of medium size, very viscid or glutinous, being entirely covered with a coating of gluten, which makes it very slippery in handling. The odor is mild and not unpleasant like that of a closely related species, H. cossus. The plants are 6—15 cm. high, the cap is from 3—8 cm. broad, and the stem 3—8 mm. in thickness. It grows on the ground in woods, or in open grassy places.

The pileus is fleshy, moderately thick, sometimes thin, convex to expanded, the margin uneven or sometimes wavy, smooth, and shining. When young the margin of the cap is incurved. The gills are strongly decurrent, distant, with vein-like elevations near the stem. Spores rather long, oval, 6—10 x 5—6 mu, granular. The stem varies in length, it is spongy to stuffed within, sometimes hollow and tapers below. The slime which envelops the plant is sometimes so abundant as to form a veil covering the entire plant and extending across from the margin of the cap to the stem, covering the gills. As the plant dries this disappears, and does not leave an annulus on the stem.



Figure 116 is from a photograph of plants (No. 2534, C. U. herbarium) collected in Enfield Gorge near Ithaca, N. Y., Nov. 5th, 1898.

Hygrophorus fuligineus Frost. Edible.—The smoky hygrophorus was described in the 35th Report of the N. Y. State Museum, p. 134. It is an American plant, and was first collected at West Albany, during the month of November. It is one of the largest species of the genus, and grows on the ground in woods, in late autumn. The plants are 5—10 cm. high, the cap from 3—10 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness. The large size of the plant together with the smoky, brown, viscid cap aid in the recognition of the plant.

The pileus is convex, becoming expanded, smooth, very viscid, dull reddish brown or smoky brown, darker on the center; the margin of the pileus is even in young specimens, becoming irregular in others; and in age often elevated more or less. The gills are broad, distant, usually decurrent, often connected by veins, white, with yellowish tinge in drying. The spores oval to elliptical, 8—12 x 5—7 mu. The stem is stout, sometimes ascending, equal, or enlarged in the middle, or tapering toward the base, solid, viscid like the pileus, usually white, sometimes tinged with the same color as pileus, somewhat yellowish tinged in drying.

Figure 117 is from plants (No. 2546, C. U. herbarium) collected in Enfield Gorge near Ithaca, Nov. 5, 1898.

Hygrophorus pratensis (Pers.) Fr. Edible.—This hygrophorus grows on the ground in pastures, old fields, or in waste places, or in thin and open woods, from mid-summer to late autumn. The plants are 3—5 cm. high, the cap 2—5 cm. or more broad, and the stem 6—12 mm. in thickness. The cap being thick at the center, and the stem being usually stouter at the apex, often gives to the plant a shape like that of a top.

The pileus is hemispherical, then convex, then nearly or quite expanded, white, or with various shades of yellow or tawny, or buff, not viscid, often cracking in dry weather. Flesh very thick at the center, thinner at the margin. The flesh is firm and white. The gills are stout, distant, long decurrent, white or yellowish, and arcuate when the margin of the pileus is incurved in the young state, then ascending as the pileus takes the shape of an inverted cone. The gills are connected across the interspaces by vein-like folds, or elevations. The spores are nearly globose to ovate or nearly elliptical, white, 6—8 x 5—6 mu. The stem is smooth, firm outside and spongy within, tapering downward.

Hygrophorus miniatus Fr. The vermilion hygrophorus is a very common plant in the woods during the summer. The cap and stem are bright red, sometimes vermilion. The gills are yellow and often tinged with red. The gills are adnate or sinuate. The plant is a small one but often abundant, and measures from 3—5 cm. high, and the cap 2—4 cm. broad. Hygrophorus coccineus (Schaeff.) Fr., is a somewhat larger plant and with a scarlet cap, which becomes yellowish in age, and the gills are adnate. Hygrophorus conicus (Scop.) Fr., is another bright red plant with a remarkable conical pileus, and the gills are annexed to free.

Hygrophorus psittacinus Fr., is a remarkably pretty plant, the cap being from bell-shaped to expanded, umbilicate, striate, and covered with a greenish slime. It occurs in woods and open places. The prevailing color is yellow, tinged with green, but it varies greatly, sometimes yellow, red, white, etc., but nearly always is marked by the presence of the greenish slime, the color of this disappearing as the plant dries. It occurs in pastures, open woods, etc., from mid-summer to autumn.

Hygrophorus hypothejus Fr., is another very variable plant in color as well as in size, varying from yellow, orange, reddish, sometimes paler, usually first grayish when covered with the olive colored slime. The gills are decurrent, white, then yellow. It occurs in autumn.

LACTARIUS Fr.

The genus Lactarius is easily distinguished from nearly all the other agarics by the presence of a milky or colored juice which exudes from wounded, cut, or broken places on the fresh plant. There are a few of the species of the genus Mycena which exude a watery or colored juice where wounded, but these are easily told from Lactarius because of their small size, more slender habit, and bell-shaped cap. By careful observation of these characters it is quite an easy matter to tell whether or not the plant at hand is a Lactarius. In addition to the presence of this juice or milk as it is commonly termed, the entire plant while firm is quite brittle, especially the gills. There are groups of rounded or vesiculose cells intermingled with thread-like cells in the substance of the cap. This latter character can only be seen on examination with the microscope. The brittleness of the plant as well as the presence of these groups of vesiculose cells is shared by the genus Russula, which is at once separated from Lactarius by the absence of a juice which exudes in drops.

In determining the species it is a very important thing to know the taste of the juice or of the fresh plant, whether it is peppery, or bitter, or mild, that is, tasteless. If one is careful not to swallow any of the juice or flesh of the plant no harm results from tasting any of the plants, provided they are not tasted too often during a short time, beyond the unpleasant sensation resulting from tasting some of the very "hot" kinds. It is important also to know the color of the milk when it first exudes from wounds and if it changes color on exposure to the air. These tests of the plant should be made of course while it is fresh. The spores are white, globose or nearly so in all species, and usually covered with minute spiny processes. There are a large number of species. Peck, 38th Report, N. Y. State Mus., pp. 111—133, describes 40 American species.



Lactarius volemus Fr. Edible.—This species is by some termed the orange brown lactarius because of its usual color. It was probably termed Lactarius volemus because of the voluminous quantity of milk which exudes where the plant is broken or bruised, though it is not the only species having this character. In fresh, young plants, a mere crack or bruise will set loose quantities of the milky juice which drops rapidly from the plant. The plant is about the size of Lactarius deliciosus and occurs in damp woods, where it grows in considerable abundance from July to September, several usually growing near each other. The pileus is convex, then expanded, often with a small elevation (umbo) at the center, or sometimes plane, and when old a little depressed in the center, smooth or somewhat wrinkled. The cap is dull orange or tawny, the shade of color being lighter in some plants and darker in others. The flesh is white and quite firm. The gills are white, often tinged with the same color as the pileus, but much lighter; they are adnate or slightly decurrent. The stem is usually short, but varies from 3—10 x 1—2 cm. It is colored like the pileus, but a lighter shade.

The milk is white, abundant, mild, not unpleasant to the taste, but sticky as it dries. This plant has also long been known as one of the excellent mushrooms for food both in Europe and America. Peck states that there are several plants which resemble Lactarius volemus in color and in the milk, but that no harm could come from eating them. There is one with a more reddish brown pileus, Lactarius rufus, found sparingly in the woods, but which has a very peppery taste. It is said by some to be poisonous.

Lactarius corrugis Pk. Edible.—This species occurs with Lactarius volemus and very closely resembles it, but it is of a darker color, and the pileus is more often marked by prominent wrinkles, from which character the plant has derived its specific name. It is perhaps a little stouter plant than L. volemus, and with a thicker cap. The surface of the pileus seems to be covered with a very fine velvety tomentum which glistens as the cap is turned in the light. The gills are much darker than in L. volemus. The plants are usually clearly separated on account of these characters, yet there are occasionally light colored forms of L. corrugis which are difficult to distinguish from dark forms of L. volemus, and this fact has aroused the suspicion that corrugis is only a form of volemus.

The milk is very abundant and in every respect agrees with that of L. volemus. I do not know that any one has tested L. corrugis for food. But since it is so closely related to L. volemus I tested it during the summer of 1899 in the North Carolina mountains. I consider it excellent. The methods of cooking there were rather primitive. It was sliced and fried with butter and salt. It should be well cooked, for when not well done the partially raw taste is not pleasant. The plant was very abundant in the woods, and for three weeks an abundance was served twice a day for a table of twelve persons. The only disagreeable feature about it is the sticky character of the milk, which adheres in quantity to the hands and becomes black. This makes the preparation of the plant for the broiler a rather unpleasant task.

Figure 118 is from plants (No. 3910, C. U. herbarium) collected in the woods at Blowing Rock, during September, 1899. Just before the exposure was made to get the photograph several of the plants were wounded with a pin to cause the drops of milk to exude, as is well shown in the illustration.

The dark color of the lamellae in L. corrugis is due to the number of brown cystidia or setae, in the hymenium, which project above the surface of the gills, and they are especially abundant on the edge of the gills. These setae are long fusoid, 80—120 x 10—12 mu. The variations in the color of the gills, in some plants the gills being much darker than in others, is due to the variations either in the number of these setae or to the variation in their color. Where the cystidia are fewer in number or are lighter in color the lamellae are lighter colored. Typical forms of Lactarius volemus have similar setae, but they are very pale in color and not so abundant over the surface of the gills. In the darker forms of L. volemus the setae are more abundant and darker in color, approaching those found in L. corrugis. These facts, supported by the variation in the color of the pileus in the two species and the variations in the rugosities of the pileus, seem to indicate that the two species are very closely related.



Lactarius lignyotus Fr.—This is known as the sooty lactarius and occurs in woods along with the smoky lactarius. It is distinguished from the latter by the dark brown color of the pileus and by the presence usually of rugose wrinkles over the center of the cap. In size it agrees with the smoky lactarius.

The pileus is convex, then plane, or somewhat depressed in the center, dry, sometimes with a small umbo, dark brown or sooty (chocolate to seal brown as given in Ridgeway's nomenclature of colors), covered with a very fine tomentum which has the appearance of a bloom. The margin of the cap, especially in old plants, is somewhat wavy or plicate as in Lactarius fuliginosus. The gills are moderately crowded when young, becoming distant in older plants, white, then cream color or yellow, changing to reddish or salmon color where bruised. The spores are yellowish in mass, faintly so under the microscope, globose, strongly echinulate, 6—10 mu. The taste is mild, or sometimes slowly and slightly acrid. The plants from North Carolina showed distinctly the change to reddish or salmon color when the gills were bruised, and the taste was noted as mild.

Figure 119 is from plants (No. 3864, C. U. herbarium) collected in the Blue Ridge Mountains, at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899.

Lactarius fuliginosus Fr.—The smoky or dingy lactarius occurs in woods and open grassy places. It is widely distributed. The plants are 4—7 cm. high, the cap 3—5 cm. broad, and the stem 6—10 mm. in thickness. The light smoky color of the cap and stem, the dull yellowish white color of the gills, and in old plants the wavy margin of the cap make it comparatively easy to recognize the species.



The pileus is thin, at first firm, becoming soft, convex, then plane and often somewhat depressed in the center, usually even, dry, the margin in old plants crenately wavy, dull gray or smoky gray in color, with a fine down or tomentum. The gills are adnate, distant, more so in old plants, white, then yellowish, sometimes changing to salmon color or reddish where bruised. The spores are yellowish in mass, faintly yellow under the microscope, strongly echinulate or tuberculate, globose, 6—10 mu. The stem is usually paler than the pileus, firm, stuffed. The milk is white, slowly acrid to the taste.

Figure 120 is from plants (No. 3867, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

Lactarius gerardii Pk.—This plant was described by Dr. Peck in the 26th Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 65, and in the 28th Rept. p. 129. According to the descriptions it differs from Lactarius fuliginosus only in the spores being white, the gills more distant, and the taste being constantly mild. Since the taste in L. fuliginosus is sometimes mild, or slowly acrid, and the lamellae in the older plants are more distant, the spores sometimes only tinged with yellow, there does not seem to be a very marked difference between the two species. In fact all three of these species, fuliginosus, lignyotus and gerardii, seem to be very closely related. Forms of fuliginosus approach lignyotus in color, and the pileus sometimes is rugose wrinkled, while in lignyotus pale forms occur, and the pileus is not always rugose wrinkled. The color of the bruised lamellae is the same in the two last species and sometimes the change in color is not marked.



Lactarius torminosus (Schaeff.) Fr.—This plant is widely distributed in Europe, Asia, as well as in America. It is easily recognised by the uneven mixture of pink and ochraceous colors, and the very hairy or tomentose margin of the cap. The plants are 5—10 cm. high, the cap about the same breadth, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness. It occurs in woods on the ground during late summer and autumn.

The pileus is convex, depressed in the center, and the margin strongly incurved when young, the abundant hairs on the margin forming an apparent veil at this time which covers up the gills. The upper surface of the pileus is smooth, or sometimes more or less covered with a tomentum similar to that on the margin. The color is an admixture of ochraceous and pink hues, sometimes with concentric zones of darker shades. The gills are crowded, narrow, whitish, with a tinge of yellowish flesh color. The stem is cylindrical, even, hollow, whitish.

The milk is white, unchangeable, acrid to the taste. Figure 121, left hand plants, is from plants (No. 3911, C. U. herbarium) collected in the Blue Ridge Mountains, N. C., in September, 1899, and the right hand plant (No. 2960, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, N. Y.



Lactarius piperatus (Scop.) Fr.—This species is very hot and peppery to the taste, is of medium size, entirely white, depressed at the center, or funnel-shaped, with a short stem, and very narrow and crowded gills, and abundant white milk. The plants are 3—7 cm. high, the cap 8—12 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness. It grows in woods on the ground and is quite common, sometimes very common in late summer and autumn.

The pileus is fleshy, thick, firm, convex, umbilicate, and then depressed in the center, becoming finally more or less funnel-shaped by the elevation of the margin. It is white, smooth when young, in age sometimes becoming sordid and somewhat roughened. The gills are white, very narrow, very much crowded, and some of them forked, arcuate and then ascending because of the funnel-shaped pileus. The spores are smooth, oval, with a small point, 5—7 x 4—5 mu. The stem is equal or tapering below, short, solid.

The milk is white, unchangeable, very acrid to the taste and abundant. The plant is reported as edible. A closely related species is L. pergamenus (Swartz) Fr., which resembles it very closely, but has a longer, stuffed stem, and thinner, more pliant pileus, which is more frequently irregular and eccentric, and not at first umbilicate. Figure 122 is from plants (No. 3887, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.



Lactarius resimus Fr.?—This plant is very common in the woods bordering a sphagnum moor at Malloryville, N. Y., ten miles from Ithaca, during July to September. I have found it at this place every summer for the past three years. It occurs also in the woods of the damp ravines in the vicinity of Ithaca. It was also abundant in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, during September, 1899. The plants are large, the caps 10—15 cm. broad, the stem 5—8 cm. long, and 2—3 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is convex, umbilicate, then depressed and more or less funnel-shaped in age, white, in the center roughened with fibrous scales as the plant ages, the scales becoming quite stout in old plants. The scales are tinged with dull ochraceous or are light brownish in the older plants. The ochre colored scales are sometimes evident over the entire cap, even in young plants. In young plants the margin is strongly involute or inrolled, and a loose but thick veil of interwoven threads extends from the surface of the roll to the stem. This disappears as the margin of the cap unrolls with the expanding pileus. The margin of the pileus is often sterile, that is, it extends beyond the ends of the gills. The gills are white, stout, and broad, decurrent, some of them forked near the stem. When bruised, the gills after several hours become ochraceous brown. The spores are subglobose, minutely spiny, 8—12 mu. The stem is solid, cylindrical, minutely tomentose, spongy within when old.



The taste is very acrid, and the white milk not changing to yellow. While the milk does not change to yellow, broken portions of the plant slowly change to flesh color, then ochraceous brown. Figures 123, 124 are from plants collected in one of the damp gorges near Ithaca, during September, 1896. The forked gills, the strongly inrolled margin of the cap and veil of the young plants are well shown in the illustration.

Lactarius chrysorrheus Fr.—This is a common and widely distributed species, from small to medium size. The plants are 5—8 cm. high, the cap 5—10 cm. broad, and the stem 1—1.5 cm. in thickness. It grows in woods and groves during late summer and autumn.

The pileus is fleshy, of medium thickness, convex and depressed in the center from the young condition, and as the pileus expands the margin becomes more and more upturned and the depression deeper, so that eventually it is more or less broadly funnel-form. The color varies from white to flesh color, tinged with yellow sometimes in spots, and marked usually with faint zones of brighter yellow. The zones are sometimes very indistinct or entirely wanting. The gills are crowded, white then yellow, where bruised becoming yellowish, then dull reddish. The stem is equal or tapering below, hollow or stuffed, paler than the pileus, smooth (sometimes pitted as shown in the Fig. 125).



The plant is acrid to the taste, the milk white changing to citron yellow on exposure. Figure 125 is from plants (No. 3875, C. U. herbarium) collected in the Blue Ridge Mountains at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899. The species was quite abundant in this locality during August and September, in chestnut groves, mixed woods, and borders of woods.

Lactarius deliciosus (L.) Fr. Edible.—Lactarius deliciosus grows in damp woods, is widely distributed and sometimes is quite common. It occurs from July to October. It is one of the medium or large sized species, being 3—10 cm. high, the cap 5—12 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness. It is easily recognized by its orange color and the concentric zones of light and dark orange around on the pileus, and by the orange milk which is exuded where wounded.

The pileus is first convex, then slightly depressed in the center, becoming more expanded, and finally more or less funnel-shaped by the elevation of the margin. It is usually more or less orange in color or mottled with varying shades, and with concentric bands of a deeper color. The gills are yellowish orange often with darker spots. The stem is of the same color as the pileus but paler, sometimes with darker spots. The flesh of the plant is white, shaded with orange. In old plants the color fades out somewhat and becomes unevenly tinged with green, and bruised places become green. Peck states that when fresh the plant often has a slight acrid taste.

Being a widely distributed and not uncommon plant, and one so readily recognized, it has long been known in the old world as well as here. All writers on these subjects concur in recommending it for food, some pronouncing it excellent, some the most delicious known. Its name suggests the estimation in which it was held when christened.

Lactarius chelidonium Pk. Edible.—This pretty little Lactarius was described by Peck in the 24th Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 74. It is closely allied to Lactarius deliciosus, from which it is said to differ in its "more narrow lamellae, differently colored milk, smaller spores." The plant is about 5 cm. high, the cap about 5 cm. broad, and the stem 1—1.5 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is fleshy, firm, convex and depressed in the center, smooth, slightly viscid when moist, "of a grayish green color with blue and yellow tints, and a few narrow zones on the margin." The gills are crowded, narrow, some of them forked at the base, and sometimes joining to form reticulations. The spores are yellowish. The short stem is nearly equal, smooth, hollow, and the same color as the pileus.

The taste is mild, the milk not abundant, and of a yellowish color, "resembling the juice of Celandine or the liquid secreted from the mouth of grasshoppers." Wounds on the plant are first of the color of the milk, changing on exposure to blue, and finally to green. The plant occurs during late summer and in the autumn in woods. Peck reported it first from Saratoga, N. Y. It has been found elsewhere in the State, and it has probably quite a wide distribution. I found it during September, 1899, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of N. C. Figure 1, plate 39, is from some of the water color drawings made by Mr. Franklin R. Rathbun.



Lactarius indigo (Schw.) Fr.—The indigo blue lactarius is a very striking and easily recognized plant because of the rich indigo blue color so predominant in the entire plant. It is not very abundant, but is widely distributed in North America. The plant is 5—7 cm. high, the cap 5—12 cm. broad, and the stem is 1—2 cm. in thickness. The plants occur during late summer and in the autumn.

The pileus when young is umbilicate, the margin involute, and in age the margin becomes elevated and then the pileus is more or less funnel-shaped. The indigo blue color is deeply seated, and the surface of the pileus has a silvery gray appearance through which the indigo blue color is seen. The surface is marked by concentric zones of a darker shade. In age the color is apt to be less uniformly distributed, it is paler, and the zones are fainter. The gills are crowded, and when bruised, or in age, the indigo blue color changes somewhat to greenish. The milk is dark blue.

RUSSULA Pers.

The species of Russula are very characteristic, and the genus is easily recognized in most cases after a little experience. In the very brittle texture of the plants the genus resembles Lactarius, and many of them are more brittle than the species of this genus. A section of the pileus shows under the microscope a similar vesicular condition, that is the grouping of large rounded cells together, with threads between. But the species of Russula are at once separated from those of Lactarius by the absence of a juice which exudes in drops from bruised parts of Lactarius. While some of the species are white and others have dull or sombre colors, many of the species of Russula have bright, or even brilliant colors, as red, purple, violet, pink, blue, yellow, green. In determining many of the species, however, it is necessary to know the taste, whether mild, bitter, acrid, etc., and in this respect the genus again resembles Lactarius. The color of the gills as well as the color of the spores in mass should also be determined. The genus is quite a large one, and the American species are not well known, the genus being a difficult one. In Jour. Mycolog., 5: 58—64, 1889, the characters of the tribes of Russula with descriptions of 25 species are quoted from Stevenson, with notes on their distribution in N. A. by MacAdam.

Russula alutacea Fr. Edible.—This handsome Russula differs from the others described here in the color of the gills and spores. The plant is common and occurs in mixed woods during the summer and early autumn. It is 5—10 cm. high, the cap 5—12 cm. broad, and the stem 1.5—2.5 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is fleshy, oval to bell-shaped, becoming plane, and sometimes umbilicate. It is red or blood red in color, sometimes purple, and becoming pale in age, especially at the center. It is viscid when moist, the margin thin and striate-tuberculate. The gills are free from the stem, stout, broad, first white, becoming yellow, and in age ochraceous. The gills are all of the same length, not crowded, and they are connected by vein-like elevations over the surface. The stem is stout, solid, even, white, portions of the stem are red, sometimes purple.

The taste is mild, and the plant is regarded as one of the very good ones for food.

Russula lepida Fr. Edible.—This elegant Russula occurs in birch woods or in mixed woods during late summer and autumn. It is 5—8 cm. high, the cap 6—8 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is fleshy, convex, then expanded, obtuse, not shining, deep red, becoming pale in age, often whitish at the center, silky, in age the surface cracking, the margin blunt and not striate. The gills are rounded next the stem, thick, rather crowded, and sometimes forked, white, sometimes red on the edge near the margin of the pileus. The gills are often connected by vein-like elevations over the surface. The stem is equal, white or rose color. The taste is mild.

Russula virescens (Schaeff.) Fr. Edible.—This plant grows on the ground in woods or in grassy places in groves from July to September. The stem is short, 2—7 cm. long x 1—2 cm. thick, and the cap is 5—10 cm. broad. The plant is well known by the green color of the pileus and by the surface of the pileus being separated into numerous, quite regular, somewhat angular areas or patches, where the green color is more pronounced.

The pileus is first rounded, then convex and expanded, and when old somewhat depressed in the center. It is quite firm, dry, greenish, and the surface with numerous angular floccose areas or patches of usually a deeper green. Sometimes the pileus is said to be tinged with yellow. The gills are adnate, nearly free from the stem, and crowded. The stem is white and firm.

The greenish Russula, Russula virescens, like a number of other plants, has long been recommended for food, both in Europe and in this country. There are several species of Russula in which the pileus is green, but this species is readily distinguished from them by the greenish floccose patches on the surface of the pileus. Russula furcata is a common species in similar situations, with forked gills, and the cap very variable in color, sometimes reddish, purple, purple brown, or in one form green. I know of the Russula furcata having been eaten in rather small quantities, and while in this case no harm resulted the taste was not agreeable.



Russula fragilis (Pers.) Fr.—This plant is very common in damp woods, or during wet weather from July to September. It is a small plant and very fragile, as its name suggests, much more so than most other species. It is 2—4 cm. high, the cap 2—5 cm. broad, and the stem about 1 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is convex, sometimes slightly umbonate, then plane, and in age somewhat depressed. The cuticle peels off very easily. The color is often a bright red, or pink, sometimes purple or violet, and becomes paler in age. It is somewhat viscid when moist, and the margin is very thin and strongly striate and tuberculate, i. e., the ridges between the marginal furrows are tuberculate. The gills are lightly adnexed, thin, crowded, broad, all of the same length, white. The stem is usually white, sometimes more or less pink colored, spongy within, becoming hollow. The taste is very acrid.

Russula emetica Fr. Poisonous.—This Russula has a very wide distribution and occurs on the ground in woods or open places during summer and autumn. It is a beautiful species and very fragile. The plants are 5—10 cm. high, the cap 5—10 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness. The pileus is oval to bell-shaped when young, becoming plane, and in age depressed. It is smooth, shining, the margin furrowed and tuberculate. The color is from pink or rosy when young to dark red when older, and fading to tawny or sometimes yellowish in age. The cuticle is easily separable as in R. fragilis, the flesh white, but reddish just beneath the cuticle. The gills are nearly free, broad, not crowded, white. The stem is stout, spongy within, white or reddish, fragile when old.

The plant is very acrid to the taste and is said to be poisonous, and to act as an emetic.

Russula adusta (Pers.) Fr.—This plant occurs on the ground in woods during late summer and in autumn. It is 3—6 cm. high, the cap 5—15 cm. broad, and the stem is 1—1.5 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is fleshy, firm, convex, depressed at the center, and when old more or less funnel-shaped from the upturning of the margin, which is at first incurved and smooth. It varies from white to gray and smoky color. The gills are adnate, or decurrent, thin, crowded, of unequal lengths, white, then becoming dark. The stem is colored like the pileus. The entire plant becomes darker in drying, sometimes almost black. It is near Russula nigricans, but is smaller, and does not have a red juice as R. nigricans has.

CANTHARELLUS Adanson.

From the other white-spored agarics of a fleshy consistency Cantharellus is distinguished by the form of the gills. The gills are generally forked, once or several times, in a dichotomous manner, though sometimes irregularly. They are blunt on the edge, not acute as in most of the other genera. The gills are usually narrow and in many species look like veins, folds, or wrinkles, but in some species, as in Cantharellus aurantiacus, they are rather thin and broad.



Cantharellus cibarius Fr. Edible.—This plant is known as the chanterelle. It has a very wide distribution and has long been regarded as one of the best of the edible mushrooms. Many of the writers on fungi speak of it in terms of high praise. The entire plant is a uniform rich chrome yellow. Sometimes it is symmetrical in form, but usually it is more or less irregular and unsymmetrical in form. The plants are 5—10 cm. high, the cap 4—8 cm. broad, and the stem short and rather thick.



The pileus is fleshy, rather thick, the margin thick and blunt and at first inrolled. It is convex, becoming expanded or sometimes depressed by the margin of the cap becoming elevated. The margin is often wavy or repand, and in irregular forms it is only produced at one side, or more at one side than at the other, or the cap is irregularly lobed. The gills are very narrow, stout, distant, more or less sinuous, forked or anastomosing irregularly, and because of the pileus being something like an inverted cone the gills appear to run down on the stem. The spores are faintly yellowish, elliptical, 7—10 mu. Figure 126 represents but a single specimen, and this one with a nearly lateral pileus.



Cantharellus aurantiacus Fr.—This orange cantharellus is very common, and occurs on the ground or on very rotten wood, logs, branches, etc., from summer to very late autumn. It is widely distributed in Europe and America. It is easily known by its dull orange or brownish pileus, yellow gills, which are thin and regularly forked, and by the pileus being more or less depressed or funnel-shaped. The plants are from 5—8 cm. high, the cap from 2—7 cm. broad, and the stem about 4—8 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is fleshy, soft, flexible, convex, to expanded, or obconic, plane or depressed, or funnel-shaped, the margin strongly inrolled when young, in age simply incurved, the margin plane or repand and undulate. The color varies from ochre yellow to dull orange, or orange ochraceous, raw sienna, and tawny, in different specimens. It is often brownish at the center. The surface of the pileus is minutely tomentose with silky hairs, especially toward the center, and sometimes smooth toward the margin. The flesh is 3—5 mm. at the center, and thin toward the margin. The gills are arcuate, decurrent, thin, the edge blunt, but not so much so as in a number of other species, crowded, regularly forked several times, at length ascending when the pileus is elevated at the margin. The color of the gills is orange to cadmium orange, or sometimes paler, cadmium yellow or deep chrome. The stem is clay color to ochre yellow, enlarged below, spongy, stuffed, fistulose, soft, fibrous, more or less ascending at the base.

The taste is somewhat nutty, sometimes bitterish. The plants in Fig. 127 (No. 3272, C. U. herbarium) were collected near Ithaca, October 7, 1899.

MARASMIUS Fr.

In this genus the plants are tough and fleshy or membranaceous, leathery and dry. They do not easily decay, but shrivel up in dry weather, and revive in wet weather, or when placed in water. This is an important character in distinguishing the genus. It is closely related to Collybia, from which it is difficult to separate certain species. On the other hand, it is closely related to Lentinus and Panus, both of which are tough and pliant. In Marasmius, however, the substance of the pileus is separate from that of the stem, while in Lentinus and Panus it is continuous, a character rather difficult for the beginner to understand. The species of Marasmius, however, are generally much smaller than those of Lentinus and Panus, especially those which grow on wood. The stem in Marasmius is in nearly all species central, while in Lentinus and Panus it is generally more or less eccentric. Many of the species of the genus Marasmius have an odor of garlic when fresh. Besides the fairy ring (M. oreades) which grows on the ground, M. rotula is a very common species on wood and leaves. It has a slender, black, shining stem, and a brownish pileus usually with a black spot in the depression in the center. The species are very numerous. Peck, 23rd Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 124—126, describes 8 species. Morgan Jour. Cinn. Soc. Nat. Hist. 6: 189—194, describes 17 species.

Marasmius oreades Fr. Edible.—This is the well known "fairy ring" mushroom. It grows during the summer and autumn in grassy places, as in lawns, by roadsides, in pastures, etc. It appears most abundantly during wet weather or following heavy rains. It is found usually in circles, or in the arc of a circle, though few scattered plants not arranged in this way often occur. The plants are 7—10 cm. high, the cap 2—4 cm. broad, and the stem 3—4 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is convex to expanded, sometimes the center elevated, fleshy, rather thin, tough, smooth, buff color, or tawny or reddish, in age, or in drying, paler. When moist the pileus may be striate on the margin. The gills are broad, free or adnexed, rounded near the stem, white or dull yellowish. The spores are elliptical, 7—8 mu long. The stem is tough, solid, whitish.

This widely distributed fungus is much prized everywhere by those who know it. It is not the only fungus which appears in rings, so that this habit is not peculiar to this plant. Several different kinds are known to appear in rings at times. The appearance of the fungus in rings is due to the mode of growth of the mycelium or spawn in the soil.

Having started at a given spot the mycelium consumes the food material in the soil suitable for it, and the plants for the first year appear in a group. In the center of this spot the mycelium, having consumed all the available food, probably dies after producing the crop of mushrooms. But around the edge of the spot the mycelium or spawn still exists, and at the beginning of the next season it starts into growth and feeds on the available food in a zone surrounding the spot where it grew the previous year. This second year, then, the plants appear in a small ring. So in succeeding years it advances outward, the ring each year becoming larger. Where the plants appear only in the arc of a circle, something has happened to check or destroy the mycelium in the remaining arc of the circle.

It has been noted by several observers that the grass in the ring occupied by the mushrooms is often greener than that adjoining. This is perhaps due to some stimulus exerted by the mycelium of the fungus on the grass, or possibly the mycelium may in some way make certain foods available for the grass which gives an additional supply to it at this point.

Fig. 129 is from plants (No. 5503, C. U. herbarium) collected in a lawn, October 25, 1900, Ithaca.

Illustrations of some fine large rings formed by this fungus appeared in circular No. 13 by Mr. Coville, of the Division of Botany in the U. S. Dept. Agr.

Marasmius cohaerens (Fr.) Bres. (Mycena cohaerens Fr. Collybia lachnophylla Berk. Collybia spinulifera Pk.)—This plant grows in dense clusters, ten to twenty individuals with their stems closely joined below and fastened together by the abundant growth of threads from the lower ends. From this character the name cohaerens was derived. The plants grow on the ground or on very rotten wood in woods during late spring and in the summer. The plant is not very common in this country, but appears to be widely distributed both in Europe and here, having been collected in Carolina, Ohio, Vermont, New York, etc. The plants are 12—20 cm. high, the cap 2—2.5 cm. broad, and the stem 4—7 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is fleshy, tough, convex or bell-shaped, then expanded, sometimes umbonate, or in age sometimes the margin upturned and more or less wavy, not viscid, but finely striate when damp, thin. The color varies from vinaceous cinnamon to chestnut or light leather color, or tawny, paler in age, and sometimes darker on the center. The gills are sometimes more or less crowded, narrow, 5—6 mm. broad, adnate, but notched, and sometimes becoming free from the stem. The color is light leather color, brick red or bay, the color and color variations being due to numbers of colored cystidia or spicules scattered over the surface of the gills and on the edge. The cystidia are fulvous, fusoid, 75—90 mu long. The spores are oval, white, small, 6 x 3 mu. The stem is long and slender, nearly cylindrical, tapering somewhat above, slightly enlarged below, and rooting. The color is the same as that of the pileus or dark bay brown, and shining, and seems to be due to large numbers of spicules similar to those on the gills. The color is paler below in some cases, or gradually darker below in others. The stems are bound together below by numerous threads.

Figure 130 is from plants (No. 2373, C. U. herbarium) collected in woods near Freeville, N. Y. The plants have been collected near Ithaca on three different occasions, twice near Freeville about nine miles from Ithaca, and once in the woods at Ithaca. It is easily distinguished by its color and the presence of the peculiar setae or cystidia.



Although the plant has been collected on several different occasions in America, it does not seem to have been recognized under this name until recently, save the record of it from Carolina by de Schweinitz (Synop. fung. Car. No. 606. p. 81).

LENTINUS Fr.

The plants of this genus are tough and pliant, becoming hard when old, unless very watery, and when dry. The genus differs from the other tough and pliant ones by the peculiarity of the gills, the gills being notched or serrate on the edges. Sometimes this appearance is intensified by the cracking of the gills in age or in drying. The nearest ally of the genus is Panus, which is only separated from Lentinus by the edge of the gills being plane. This does not seem a very good character on which to separate the species of the two genera, since it is often difficult to tell whether the gills are naturally serrate or whether they have become so by certain tensions which exist on the lamellae during the expansion and drying of the pileus. Schroeter unites Panus with Lentinus (Cohn's Krypt. Flora, Schlesien, 3, 1; 554, 1889). The plants are usually very irregular and many of them shelving, only a few grow upright and have regular caps.

Lentinus vulpinus Fr.—This is a large and handsome species, having a wide distribution in Europe and in this country, but it does not seem to be common. It grows on trunks, logs, stumps, etc., in the woods. It was quite abundant during late summer and in the autumn on fallen logs, in a woods near Ithaca. The caps are shelving, closely overlapping in shingled fashion (imbricated), and joined at the narrowed base. The surface is convex, and the margin is strongly incurved, so that each of the individual caps is shell-shaped (conchate). The surface of the pileus is coarsely hairy or hispid, the surface becoming more rough with age. Many coarse hairs unite to form coarse tufts which are stouter and nearly erect toward the base of the cap, and give the surface a tuberculate appearance. Toward the margin of the cap these coarse hairs are arranged in nearly parallel lines, making rows or ridges, which are very rough. The hairs and tubercles are dark in color, being nearly black toward the base, especially in old plants, and sometimes pale or of a smoky hue, especially in young plants. The pileus is flesh color when young, becoming darker when old, and the flesh is quite thin, whitish toward the gills and darker toward the surface. The gills are broad, nearly white, flesh color near the base, coarsely serrate, becoming cracked in age and in drying, narrowed toward the base of the pileus, not forked, crowded, 4—6 mm. broad. The cap and gills are tough even when fresh. The plant has an intensely pungent taste.

Figures 131, 132 represent an upper, front, and under view of the pilei (No. 3315, C. U. herbarium).



Lentinus lecomtei Fr., is a very common and widely distributed species growing on wood. When it grows on the upper side of logs the pileus is sometimes regular and funnel-shaped (cyathiform), but it is often irregular and produced on one side, especially if it grows on the side of the substratum. In most cases, however, there is a funnel-shaped depression above the attachment of the stem. The pileus is tough, reddish or reddish brown or leather color, hairy or sometimes strigose, the margin incurved. The stem is usually short, hairy, or in age it may become more or less smooth. The gills are narrow, crowded, the spores small, ovate to elliptical 5—6 x 2—3 mu. According to Bresadola this is the same as Panus rudis Fr. It resembles very closely also Panus cyathiformis (Schaeff.) Fr., and P. strigosus B. & C.

Lentinus lepideus Fr., [L. squamosus (Schaeff.) Schroet.] is another common and widely distributed species. It is much larger than L. lecomtei, whitish with coarse brown scales on the cap. It is 12—20 cm. high, and the cap is often as broad. The stem is 2—8 cm. long and 1—2 cm. in thickness. It grows on wood.



Lentinus stipticus (Bull.) Schroet. (Panus stipticus Bull.) is a very small species compared with the three named above. It is, however, a very common and widely distributed one, growing on wood, and may be found the year around. The pileus is 1—3 cm. in diameter, whitish or grayish, very tough, expanded in wet weather, and curled up in dry weather. The stem is very short, and attached to one side of the cap. When freshly developed the plant is phosphorescent.

SCHIZOPHYLLUM Fr.

This is a very interesting genus, but the species are very few. The plants are tough, pliant when fresh, and dry. The gills are very characteristic, being split along the edge and generally strongly revolute, that is, the split edges curve around against the side of the gill. This character can be seen sometimes with the aid of a hand lens, but is very evident when a section of the cap and gills is made and then examined with a microscope. The spores are white.



Schizophyllum alneum (L.) Schroet.—This species usually goes by the name of Schizophyllum commune, but the earlier name is S. alneum. It is a very common plant and is world wide in its distribution, growing on wood, as on branches, trunks, etc. It is white, and the pileus is very hairy or tomentose, with coarse white hairs. It is 1—3 cm. in diameter, and the cap is sessile, either attached at one side when the cap is more produced on one side than on the other, or it may be attached at or near the center of the top, when the cap is more evenly developed on all sides. It is often crenate or lobed on the margin, the larger plants showing this character more prominently. The margin is incurved. The gills are white, wooly, branched and extend out toward the margin of the cap like the radiations of a fan. The gills are deeply split along the edge, and strongly revolute. It is a very pretty plant, but one becomes rather tired of collecting it because it is so common. It may be found at all seasons of the year on dead sticks and branches, either in the woods or elsewhere, if the branches are present. It is very coriaceous, and tough. During dry weather it is much shrunken and curled up, but during rains it expands quickly and then it is seen in its beauty.



Figure 133 shows the plant in the expanded condition, from the under side. The plants were growing on a hickory branch, and were dry and shrunken when brought in the laboratory. The branch and the fungus were placed in water for a few hours, when the fungus expanded, and was then photographed in this condition.

TROGIA Fr.

This genus is characterized, according to Fries, by the gills being channeled along the edge, but singularly the only species attributed to the genus in Europe and in our country has not channeled gills, but only somewhat crisped along the edges. It is usually, therefore, a difficult matter for a beginner to determine the plant simply from this description. The gills are furthermore narrow, irregular, and the plants are somewhat soft and flabby when wet, but brittle and persistent when dry, so that when moistened they revive and appear as if fresh.

Trogia crispa Fr.—This species is the principal if not only one in Europe and America. It is widely distributed, and sometimes not very uncommon. It occurs on trunks, branches, etc., often on the birch. The plants are from 0.5—1 cm. broad, usually sessile. The upper surface is whitish or reddish yellow toward the attachment, sometimes tan color, and when young it is sometimes covered with whitish hairs. The gills are very narrow, vein-like, irregular, interrupted or continuous, and often more or less branched. The gills are very much crisped, hence the name, blunt at the edge and white or bluish gray. The caps are usually much crowded and overlapped in an imbricated fashion as shown in Fig. 134; a photograph of a fine specimen after being moistened.



CHAPTER VII.

THE ROSY-SPORED AGARICS.

The spores are rosy, pink, salmon colored, flesh colored, or reddish. For analytical keys to the genera see Chapter XXIV.

PLUTEUS Fr.

In the genus Pluteus the volva and annulus are both wanting, the gills are usually free from the stem, and the stem is easily broken out from the substance of the cap, reminding one in some cases of a ball and socket joint. The substance of the cap is thus said to be not continuous with that of the stem. The spores seen in mass are flesh colored as in other genera of this subdivision of the agarics.



Pluteus cervinus Schaeff. Edible.—This is one of the very common species of the higher fungi, and is also very widely distributed. It varies considerably in size and appearance. It is 7—15 cm. high, the cap 5—10 cm. broad, and the stem 6—12 mm. in thickness. It occurs on the ground from underground roots or rotten wood, or grows on decaying stumps, logs, etc., from spring until late autumn. Sometimes it is found growing in sawdust.

The pileus is fleshy, bell-shaped, then convex, and becoming expanded, the surface usually smooth, but showing radiating fibrils, grayish brown, or sometimes sooty, sometimes more or less scaly. The gills are not crowded, broad, free from the stem, white, then becoming flesh color with the maturity of the spores. One very characteristic feature of the plant is the presence of cystidia in the hymenium on the gills. These are stout, colorless, elliptical, thick-walled, and terminate in two or three blunt, short prongs.

The stem is nearly equal, solid, the color much the same as that of the pileus, but often paler above, smooth or sometimes scaly.

In some forms the plant is entirely white, except the gills. In addition to the white forms occurring in the woods, I have found them in an old abandoned cement mine growing on wood props.



Pluteus tomentosulus Pk.—This plant was described by Peck in the 32d Report, N. Y. State Mus., page 28, 1879. It grows on decaying wood in the woods during July and August. The plants are 5—12 cm. high, the cap 3—7 cm. broad, and the stem 4—8 mm. in thickness. The description given by Peck is as follows: "Pileus thin, convex or expanded, subumbonate, dry, minutely squamulose-tomentose, white, sometimes pinkish on the margin; lamellae rather broad, rounded behind, free, crowded, white then flesh colored; stem equal, solid, striate, slightly pubescent or subtomentose, white; spores subglobose, 7 mu in diameter, generally containing a large single nucleus." From the plant collected at Ithaca the following notes were made. The pileus and stem are entirely white, the gills flesh color. The pileus is expanded, umbonate, thin except at the umbo, minutely floccose squamulose, no pinkish tinge noted; the flesh is white, but on the umbo changing to flesh color where wounded. The gills are free, with a clear white space between stem and rounded edges, crowded, narrow (about 3—4 mm. broad) edge finely fimbriate, probably formed by numerous bottle-shaped cystidia on the edge, and which extend up a little distance on the side of the gills, but are not distributed in numbers over the surface of the gills; cystidia thin walled, hyaline. The spores are flesh colored, subglobose, 5—7 mu. Stem cylindrical, even, twisted somewhat, white, striate and minutely squamulose like the pileus, but with coarser scales, especially toward the base, solid, flesh white.

The species received its name from the tomentose, striate character of the stem. The plants (No. 3219, C. U. herbarium) illustrated in Fig. 136 were collected in Enfield Gorge, vicinity of Ithaca, July 28, 1899.

VOLVARIA Fr.

This genus takes its name from the volva, which means a wrapper, and which, as we know from our studies of Amanita, entirely envelops the plant at a young stage. The genus is characterized then by the rosy or reddish spores, the presence of a volva, and the annulus is wanting. The stem is easily separable from the pileus at its junction, in this respect being similar to Amanita, Amanitopsis, Lepiota and others. The gills are usually, also, free from the stem. The species grow on rotting wood, on leaf mould and on richly manured ground, etc. They are of a very soft texture and usually soon decay.

Volvaria bombycina (Pers.) Fr. Edible.—The silky volvaria is so called because of the beautiful silky texture of the surface of the cap. It is not very common, but is world wide in its distribution, and occurs on decayed wood of logs, stumps, etc., during late summer and in autumn. It is usually of a beautiful white color, large, the volva large and thick, reminding one of a bag, and the stem is ascending when the plant grows on the side of the trunk, or erect when it grows on the upper side of a log or stump. The plant is from 8—16 cm. high, the cap 6—20 cm. broad, and the stem 1—1.5 cm. thickness.

The pileus is globose, then bell-shaped, and finally convex and somewhat umbonate, white, according to some becoming somewhat reddish. The entire surface is silky, and numerous hairs stand out in the form of soft down, when older the surface becoming more or less scaly, or rarely becoming smooth at the apex. The flesh is white. The gills are crowded, very broad along the middle, flesh colored, the edge sometimes ragged. The spores are rosy in mass, oval to broadly elliptical, 6—9 x 5—6 mu, smooth. The stem tapers from the base to the apex, is solid, smooth. The volva is large and bag-like. The plant is considered edible by some. Figure 137 is from a plant (No. 3096, C. U. herbarium) collected on a log of Acer rubrum in Cascadilla woods, Ithaca, on August 10th, 1898.



Volvaria speciosa Fr.—This plant seems to be rare, but it has a wide distribution in Europe and the United States. It occurs on richly manured ground, on dung, etc. The plants are 10—20 cm. high, the cap 6—12 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness. The entire plant is white or whitish, sometimes grayish, especially at the center, where it is also sometimes darker and of a smoky color.

The pileus is globose when young, then bell-shaped, and finally more or less expanded, and umbonate, smooth, very viscid, so that earth, leaves, etc., cling to it. The flesh is white and very soft. The gills are free, flesh colored to reddish or fulvous, from the deeply colored spores. The spores are broadly elliptical, or oval, 12—18 x 8—10 mu. The stem is nearly cylindrical, or tapering evenly from the base, when young more or less hairy, becoming smooth. The volva is large, edge free, but fitting very close, flabby and irregularly torn.

The species is reported from California by McClatchie, and from Wisconsin by Bundy.

Specimens were received in June, 1898, from Dr. Post of Lansing, Mich., which were collected there in a potato patch. It was abundant during May and June. Plants which were sent in a fresh condition were badly decayed by the time they reached Ithaca, and the odor was very disagreeable. It is remarkable that the odor was that of rotting potatoes! In this connection might be mentioned Dr. Peck's observation (Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 26: p. 67, 1899) that Agaricus maritimus Pk., which grows near the seashore, possessed "a taste and odor suggestive of the sea."

McClatchie reports that it is common in cultivated soil, especially grain fields and along roads, and that it is "a fine edible agaric and our most abundant one in California."

CLITOPILUS Fr.

In the rosy-spored agarics belonging to this genus the gills are decurrent, that is, extend for some distance down on the stem. The stem is fleshy. The gills are white at first and become pink or salmon color as the plants mature, and the spores take on their characteristic color. The plants should thus not be confused with any of the species of Agaricus to which the common mushroom belongs, since in those species the gills become dark brown or blackish when mature. The genus corresponds with Clitocybe among the white-spored ones.

Clitopilus prunulus Scop. Edible.—This species grows on the ground in the woods from mid-summer to autumn. It is not very common, but sometimes appears in considerable quantities at one place. During the autumn of 1898 quite a large number of specimens were found in a woods near Ithaca, growing on the ground around an old stump. The plants are 3—8 cm. high, the cap 5—10 cm. broad, and stem 1—2 cm. in thickness.



The pileus is fleshy, firm, convex and becoming nearly plane, and sometimes as the plants become old the center may be slightly depressed. It is whitish in color, or dark gray, or with a leaden tint, dry, sometimes with a distinct bloom on the surface, and the margin is often wavy. The cap is sometimes produced more on one side than on the other. The gills are not close, at first whitish, then salmon colored as the spores mature, and they are decurrent as is characteristic of the genus. The spores are elliptical or nearly so, and measure 10—12 mu long.

Figure 138 is from plants collected near Ithaca, in the autumn of 1898. This species is considered to be one of the excellent mushrooms for food. When fresh it has a mealy odor and taste, as do several of the species of this genus. It is known as the prune mushroom.

Clitopilus orcella Bull. Edible.—This plant is sometimes spoken of as the sweet-bread mushroom. It is much like the prune mushroom just described, in odor and taste, and sometimes resembles it in form and other characters. It is white in color, and the plants are usually considerably smaller, and the pileus is, according to my observations, sometimes more irregular, lobed and wavy on the margin. The flesh is also softer, and the cap is said to be slightly viscid in wet weather. The plant grows in the woods and sometimes in open fields.

ENTOLOMA Fr.

The volva and annulus are absent in this genus, the spores are rosy, the gills adnate to sinuate or adnexed, easily separating from the stem in some species. The stem is fleshy or fibrous, sometimes waxy, and the pileus is fleshy with the margin incurved, especially when young. The spores are prominently angular. The genus corresponds with Tricholoma of the white-spored agarics, and also with Hebeloma and Inocybe of the ochre-spored ones. Entoloma repandum Bull., is an Inocybe [I. repandum (Bull.) Bres.] and has angular spores resembling those of an Entoloma, but the spores are not rosy.

Entoloma jubatum Fr.—Growing on the ground in woods. The plants are 5—10 cm. high, the cap 3—6 cm. broad, and the stem 3—6 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is conic in some plants, to convex and umbonate, thin, minutely scaly with blackish hairy scales, dull heliotrope purple, darker on the umbo. The gills are vinaceous rufus to deep flesh color, strongly sinuate, and irregularly notched along the edge. The spores are irregularly oval to short oblong, coarsely angular, with an oil drop, 5—7 angled, 7—11 x 6—7 mu. The stem is of the same color as the pileus, sometimes deeply rooting, hollow. Figure 139 is from plants (No. 4000, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

Entoloma grayanum Pk.—This plant grows on the ground in woods. It is from 6—8 cm. high, the cap is 3—6 cm. broad, and the stem 4—6 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is convex to expanded, sometimes broadly umbonate, drab in color, the surface wrinkled or rugose, and watery in appearance. The flesh is thin and the margin incurved. The gills are first drab in color, but lighter than the pileus, becoming pinkish in age. The spores on paper are very light salmon color. They are globose or rounded in outline, 5—7 angled, with an oil globule, 8—10 mu in diameter. The stem is the same color as the pileus, but lighter, striate, hollow, somewhat twisted, and enlarged below. Figure 140 is from plants (No. 3998, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.



Entoloma strictius Pk.—The plants grow in grassy places, pastures, etc. They are clustered, sometimes two or three joined at the base of the stem. They are 7—10 cm. high, the caps 2—4 cm. broad, and the stems 3—6 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is convex, the disk expanded, and the margin incurved and more or less wavy or repand on the extreme edge. It is umbonate at the center with usually a slight depression around the umbo, smooth, watery (hygrophanous) in appearance, not viscid, of an umber color, shining, faintly and closely striate on the margin. In drying the surface of the pileus loses some of its dark umber color and presents a silvery sheen. The flesh is fibrous and umber color also. The gills are grayish white, then tinged with flesh color, slightly sinuate, the longer ones somewhat broader in the middle (ventricose), rather distant, and quite thick as seen in cross section, the center of the gill (trama) presenting parallel threads. The sub-hymenium is very thin and composed of small cells; the basidia are clavate, 25—30 x 9—10 mu, and four-spored. The spores are dull rose color on paper, subgloblose, 5—8 mu in diameter, angular with 5—6 angles as seen from one side. The stem is the same color as the pileus, but considerably lighter. It is hollow with white fibers within, fibrous striate on the surface, twisted, brittle, and somewhat cartilaginous, partly snapping, but holding by fibers in places, cylindrical, even, ascending, with delicate white fibers covering the lower end.



Figure 141 is from plants (No. 2461, C. U. herbarium) collected near Ithaca, October, 1898.

LEPTONIA Fr.

In Leptonia the stem is cartilaginous, hollow or stuffed, smooth and somewhat shining. The pileus is thin, umbilicate or with the center darker, the surface hairy or scaly, and the margin at first incurved. The gills are adnate or adnexed at first, and easily separating from the stem in age. Many of the species are bright colored.



Leptonia asprella Fr.—This species occurs on the ground in woods or in open grassy places. The plants are 3—5 cm. high, the cap 2—4 cm. broad, and the stem 2—3 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is convex, then more or less expanded, umbilicate, rarely umbonate, hair brown (mouse colored), with dark scales on the center and minute scales over the surface, striate.

The gills are sinuate to adnexed. The spores are strongly 5—6 angled, 10—12 x 8—10 mu. The stem is smooth, even, usually the same color as the cap, but sometimes it is reddish brown, green, or blue. Figure 142 is from plants (No. 3996, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

Leptonia incana Fr., is a more common species, and is characterized by an odor of mice.

ECCILIA Fr.

The genus Eccilia corresponds with Omphalia of the white-spored agarics. The stem is cartilaginous, hollow or stuffed. The pileus is thin and somewhat membranaceous, plane or depressed at the center, and the margin at first incurved. The gills are more or less decurrent.

Eccilia polita Pers.—This plant occurs on the ground in woods. It is 6—10 cm. high, the cap 2—4 cm. broad, and the stem is 3—4 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is convex and umbilicate, somewhat membranaceous, smooth, watery in appearance, finely striate on the margin, hair brown to olive in color. The gills are decurrent. In the specimens illustrated in Fig. 143 the gills are very irregular and many of them appear sinuate. The spores are strongly 4—5 angled, some of them square, 10—12 mu in diameter, with a prominent mucro at one angle. The stem is cartilaginous, becoming hollow, lighter in color than the pileus, and somewhat enlarged below. Figure 143 is from plants (No. 3999, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.



CLAUDOPUS W. Smith.

In the genus Claudopus, recognized by some, the pileus is eccentric or lateral, that is, the stem is attached near the side of the cap, or the cap is sessile and attached by one side to the wood on which the plant is growing; or the plants are resupinate, that is, they may be spread over the surface of the wood.

The genus is perhaps not well separated from some of the species of Pleurotus with lilac spores like P. sapidus. In fact, a number of the species were formerly placed in Pleurotus, while others were placed in Crepidotus among the ochre-spored agarics. Several species are reported from America. Peck in 39th Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 67, et seq., 1886, describes five species.

Claudopus nidulans (Pers.) Pk.—This is one of the very pretty agarics growing on dead branches and trunks during the autumn, and is widely distributed. It has, however, been placed in the genus Pleurotus, as P. nidulans. But because of the pink color of the spores in mass, Peck places it in the genus Claudopus, where Fries suggested it should go if removed from Pleurotus. It seems to be identical with Panus dorsalis Bosc. It is usually sessile and attached to the side of dead branches, logs, etc., in a shelving manner, or sometimes it is resupinate.

The pileus is sessile, or sometimes narrowed at the base into a short stem, the caps often numerous and crowded together in an overlapping or imbricate manner. It is nearly orbicular, or reniform, and 1—5 cm. broad. The margin is at first involute. The surface is coarsely hairy or tomentose, or scaly toward the margin, of a rich yellow or buff color. It is soft, but rather tough in consistency. The gills are broad, orange yellow. The spores, pink in mass, are smooth, elongated, somewhat curved, 6—8 mu long.

Figure 144 is from plants (No. 2660, C. U. herbarium) collected in woods near Ithaca.



CHAPTER VIII.

THE OCHRE-SPORED AGARICS.

The spores are ochre yellow, rusty, rusty-brown, or some shade of yellow. For analytical keys to the genera see Chapter XXIV.

PHOLIOTA Fr.

The genus Pholiota has ferruginous or ferruginous brown spores. It lacks a volva, but has an annulus; the gills are attached to the stem. It then corresponds to Armillaria among white-spored agarics, and Stropharia among the purple-brown-spored ones. There is one genus in the ochre or yellow-spored plants with which it is liable to be confused on account of the veil, namely Cortinarius, but in the latter the veil is in the form of loose threads, and is called an arachnoid veil, that is, the veil is spider-web-like. Many of the species of Pholiota grow on trunks, stumps, and branches of trees, some grow on the ground.

Pholiota praecox Pers. Edible.—Agaricus candicans Bull. T. 217, 1770: Pholiota candicans Schroeter, Krypt, Flora, Schlesien, p. 608, 1889. This plant occurs during late spring and in the summer, in pastures, lawns and grassy places, roadsides, open woods, etc. Sometimes it is very common, especially during or after prolonged or heavy rains. The plants are 6—10 cm. high, the cap from 5—8 cm. broad, and the stem 3—5 mm. in thickness. The plants are scattered or a few sometimes clustered.

The pileus is convex, then expanded, whitish to cream color or yellowish, then leather color, fleshy, the margin at first incurved, moist, not viscid. Sometimes the pileus is umbonate. The surface is sometimes uneven from numerous crowded shallow pits, giving it a frothy appearance. In age the margin often becomes upturned and fluted. The gills are adnate or slightly decurrent by a tooth, 3—4 mm. broad, a little broader at or near the middle, crowded, white, then ferruginous brown, edge sometimes whitish. There is often a prominent angle in the gills at their broadest diameter, not far from the stem, which gives to them, when the plants are young or middle age, a sinuate appearance. The spores are ferruginous brown, elliptical. Cystidia abruptly club-shaped, with a broad apiculus. The stem is stuffed, later fistulose, even, fragile, striate often above the annulus. The stem is whitish or sometimes flesh color. The veil is whitish, large, frail, and sometimes breaks away from the stem and clings in shreds to the margin of the cap.



Figure 145 is from plants (No. 2362, C. U. herbarium) collected on the campus of Cornell University, June, 1898. The taste is often slightly bitter.

Pholiota marginata Batsch.—This is one of the very common species, a small one, occurring all during the autumn, on decaying trunks, etc., in the woods. The plants are usually clustered, though appearing also singly. They are from 4—10 cm. high, the cap 3—4 cm. broad, and the stem 3—5 mu in thickness.



The pileus is convex, then plane, tan or leather colored, darker when dry. It has a watery appearance (hygrophanous), somewhat fleshy, smooth, striate on the margin. The gills are joined squarely to the stem, crowded, at maturity dark reddish brown from the spores.



The stem is cylindrical, equal, smooth, fistulose, of the same color as the pileus, becoming darker, and often with whitish fibrils at the base. The annulus is distant from the apex of the stem, and often disappears soon after the expansion of the pileus. Figure 147 is from plants (No. 2743, C. U. herbarium) collected near Ithaca.

Pholiota unicolor Vahl, is a smaller plant which grows in similar situations. The plants are usually clustered, 3—5 cm. high, and the caps 6—12 mm. in diameter, the annulus is thin but entire and persistent. The entire plant is bay brown, becoming ochraceous in color, and the margin of the cap in age is striate, first bell-shaped, then convex and somewhat umbonate. The gills are lightly adnexed.

Pholiota adiposa Fr.—The fatty pholiota usually forms large clusters during the autumn, on the trunks of trees, stumps, etc. It is sometimes of large size, measuring up to 15 cm. and the pileus up to 17 cm. broad. Specimens collected at Ithaca during October, 1899, were 8—10 cm. high, the pileus 4—8 cm. broad, and the stems 5—9 mm. in thickness. The plants grew eight to ten in a cluster and the bases of the stems were closely crowded and loosely joined.

The pileus is convex, then expanded, the margin more or less inrolled, then incurved, prominently umbonate, very viscid when moist, the ground color a saffron yellow or in the center burnt umber to wood brown. The cuticle of the pileus is plain or torn into scales which are wood brown, or when close together they are often darker, sometimes nearly black. The flesh is saffron yellow, thick at the center of the cap, thinning out toward the margin, spongy and almost tasteless. The gills are adnate, and sometimes a little notched, brown (mars brown), and the edge yellow, 6—7 mm. broad. The spores are 8 x 5 mu. The stem tapers downward, is compact, whitish then yellow, saffron yellow, flesh vinaceous, viscid, and clothed more or less with reflexed (pointing downward) scales. The stem is somewhat cartilaginous, tough, but snapping off in places. The veil is thin floccose and sometimes with coarse scales, soon disappearing.

Figure 146 is from plants (No. 3295, C. U. herbarium) collected on the Ithaca flats from a willow trunk, Oct. 10, 1899.

Pholiota aurivella Batsch, which has been found in the United States, is closely related to P. adiposa.

Pholiota squarrosa Muell., widely distributed and common in the autumn, both in Europe and America, on stumps and trunks, is a large, clustered, scaly plant, the scales "squarrose", and abundant over the pileus and on the stem below the annulus. It is brownish or ferruginous in color.

Pholiota squarrosoides Pk., as its name indicates, is closely related to P. squarrosa. It has erect, pointed, persistent scales, especially when young, and has a similar habit to squarrosa, but differs chiefly in the pileus being viscid, while that of P. squarrosa is dry. P. subsquarrosa Fr., occurring in Europe, and also closely related to P. squarrosa, is viscid, the scales are closely appressed to the surface of the cap, while in squarrosa they are prominent and revolute.

Pholiota cerasina Pk., occurs on decaying trunks of trees during late summer. The plants grow in tufts. They are 5—12 cm. high, the caps 5—10 cm. in diameter, and the stems 4—8 mm. in thickness. The pileus is smooth, watery when damp, cinnamon in color when fresh, becoming yellowish in drying, and the flesh is yellowish. The stem is solid, and equal, the apex mealy. The annulus is not persistent, and the gills are crowded and notched. The spores are elliptical, and rugose, 5 x 8 mu.



Pholiota johnsoniana Pk. Edible.—This species was described from specimens collected at Knowersville, N. Y., in 1889, by Peck, in the 23rd Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 98, as Agaricus johnsonianus. I found it at Ithaca, N. Y., for the first time during the summer of 1899, and it was rather common during September, 1899, in the Blue Ridge Mountains at Blowing Rock, N. C. It grows in woods or in pastures on the ground. The larger and handsomer specimens I have found in rather damp but well drained woods. The plants are 7—15 cm. high, the cap 5—10 cm. broad, and the stem 6—12 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is fleshy, very thick at the center, convex, then expanded and plane, smooth, sometimes finely striate on the thin margin when moist, yellowish, or fulvous, the margin whitish. The gills are attached to the stem by the upper angle (adnexed), rounded, or some of them angled, some nearly free. In color they are first gray, then rusty brown. They appear ascending because of the somewhat top-shaped pileus. The spores are irregularly ovoid, 4—6 x 3—3.5 mu. The stem is cylindrical or slightly tapering upward, smooth, slightly striate above the annulus, whitish, solid, with a tendency to become hollow. The veil is thick, and the annulus narrow and very thick or "tumid," easily breaking up and disappearing. The plant is quite readily distinguished by the form of the pileus with the ascending gills and the tumid annulus. Peck says it has a "somewhat nutty flavor."

Figure 149 is from plants (No. 4014, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

NAUCORIA Fr.

This genus, with ferruginous spores, corresponds with Collybia among the white-spored agarics. The gills are free or attached, but not decurrent, and the stem is cartilaginous. The plants grow both on the ground and on wood. Peck, 23rd Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 91, et seq., gives a synopsis of seven species.

Naucoria semi-orbicularis Bull. Edible.—This is one of the common and widely distributed species. It occurs in lawns, pastures, roadsides, etc., in waste places, from June to autumn, being more abundant in rainy weather. The plants are 7—10 cm. high, the cap 3—5 cm. broad, and the stem 2—3 mm. in thickness. The pileus is convex to expanded, and is remarkably hemispherical, from which the species takes the name of semi-orbicularis. It is smooth, viscid when moist, tawny, and in age ochraceous, sometimes the surface is cracked into areas. The gills are attached, sometimes notched, crowded, much broader than the thickness of the pileus, pale, then reddish brown. The stem is tough, slender, smooth, even, pale reddish brown, shining, stuffed with a whitish pith. Peck says that the plants have an oily flavor resembling beechnuts.

Naucoria vernalis Pk.—Naucoria vernalis was described by Peck in 23rd Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 91, from plants collected in May. The plants described here appeared in woods in late autumn. The specimens from which this description is drawn were found growing from the under side of a very rotten beech log, usually from deep crevices in the log, so that only the pileus is visible or exposed well to the view. The plants are 4—8 cm. high, the cap 2—3 cm. broad, and the stem 4—5 mm. in thickness. The taste is bitter.



The pileus is convex, then the center is nearly or quite expanded, the margin at first inrolled and never fully expanded, hygrophanous, smooth (not striate nor rugose), flesh about 5—6 mm. thick at center, thin toward the margin. The color changes during growth, it is from ochraceous rufus when young (1—2 mm. broad), then clove brown to hair brown and clay color in age. The gills are grayish brown to wood brown, at first adnate to slightly sinuate, then easily breaking away and appearing adnexed. The spores are wood brown in color, oval to short elliptical and inequilateral 6—8 x 4—5 mu. Cystidia hyaline, bottle shaped, 40—50 x 8—12 mu. The stem is somewhat hollow and stuffed, rather cartilaginous, though somewhat brittle, especially when very damp, breaking out from the pileus easily though with fragments of the gills remaining attached, not strongly continuous with the substance of the pileus. The color is buff to pale clay color; the stem being even, not bulbous but somewhat enlarged below, mealy over the entire length, which may be washed off by rains, striate at apex either from marks left by the gills or remnants of the gills as they become freed from the stem. Base of stem sometimes with white cottony threads, especially in damp situations. In the original description the stem is said to be "striate sulcate." Figure 150 is from plants (No. 3242, C. U. herbarium) collected in woods near Ithaca, October 1, 1899.

GALERA Fr.

Galera with ochraceous (ochraceous ferruginous) spores corresponds to Mycena among the white-spored agarics. The pileus is usually bell-shaped, and when young the margin fits straight against the stem. The stem is somewhat cartilaginous, but often very fragile. The genus does not contain many species. Peck gives a synopsis of five American species in the 23rd Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 93, et seq., and of twelve species in the 46th Report, p. 61, et seq. One of the common species is Galera tenera Schaeff. It occurs in grassy fields or in manured places. The plants are 5—8 cm. high, the cap 8—16 mm. broad, and the stem 2—3 mm. in thickness. The pileus is oval to bell-shaped, and tawny in color, thin, smooth, finely striate, becoming paler when dry. The gills are crowded, reddish-brown, adnexed and easily separating. The stem is smooth, colored like the pileus but a little paler, sometimes striate, and with mealy whitish particles above. Galera lateritia is a related species, somewhat larger, and growing on dung heaps and in fields and lawns. Galera ovalis Fr., is also a larger plant, somewhat shorter than the latter, and with a prominent ovate cap when young. Galera antipoda Lasch., similar in general appearance to G. tenera, has a rooting base by which it is easily known. Galera flava Pk., occurs among vegetable mold in woods. The pileus is membraneous, ovate or campanulate, moist or somewhat watery, obtuse, plicate, striate on the margin, yellow. The plants are 5—8 cm. high, the caps 12—25 mm. broad, and the stem 2—3 mm. in thickness. The plant is recognized by the pale yellow color of the caps and the plicate striate character of the margin. The plicate striate character of the cap is singular among the species of this genus, and is shared by another species, G. coprinoides Pk.

FLAMMULA Fr.

In the genus Flammula, the pileus is fleshy, stem fleshy-fibrous, and the gills adnate to decurrent.



Flammula polychroa Berk.—This is a beautiful plant with tints of violet, lavender, lilac and purple, especially on the scales of the pileus, on the veil and on the stem. It occurs in clusters during late summer and autumn, on logs, branches, etc., in the woods. The plants occur singly, but more often in clusters of three to eight or more. The plants are 4—7 cm. high, the cap 3—5 cm. broad, and the stem 4—6 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is convex, and in the young stage the margin strongly incurved, later the cap becomes expanded and has a very broad umbo. It is very viscid. The surface is covered with delicate hairs which form scales, more prominent during mid-age of the plant, and on the margin of the cap. These scales are very delicate and vary in color from vinaceous-buff, lilac, wine-purple, or lavender. The ground color of the pileus is vinaceous-buff or orange-buff, and toward the margin often with shades of beryl-green, especially where it has been touched. In the young plants the color of the delicate hairy surface is deeper, often phlox-purple, the color becoming thinner as the cap expands.

The gills are notched (sinuate) at the stem, or adnate, sometimes slightly decurrent, crowded. Before exposure by the rupture of the veil they are cream-buff in color, then taking on darker shades, drab to hair brown or sepia with a purple tinge. The stem is yellowish, nearly or quite the color of the cap, often with a purplish tinge at the base. It is covered with numerous small punctate scales of the same color, or sulphur yellow above where they are more crowded and larger. The scales do not extend on the stem above the point where the veil is attached. The stem is slightly striate above the attachment of the veil. It is somewhat tough and cartilaginous, solid, or in age stuffed, or nearly hollow. The veil is floccose and quite thick when the plant is young. It is scaly on the under side, clinging to the margin of the pileus in triangular remnants, appearing like a crown. The color of the veil and of its remnants is the same as the color of the scales of the cap.

The spores in mass are light brown, and when fresh with a slight purple tinge. (The color of the spores on white paper is near walnut brown or hair brown of Ridgeway's colors.) Under the microscope they are yellowish, oval or short oblong, often inequilateral, 6—8 x 4—5 mu.

Figure 151 is from plants (No. 4016, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899, on a fallen maple log. The plants sometimes occur singly. It has been collected at Ithaca, N. Y., and was first described from plants collected at Waynesville, Ohio.

Flammula sapinea Fr., is a common plant growing on dead coniferous wood. It is dull yellow, the pileus 1—4 cm. in diameter, and with numerous small scales.

HEBELOMA Fr.

In Hebeloma the gills are either squarely set against the stem (adnate) or they are notched (sinuate), and the spores are clay-colored. The edge of the gills is usually whitish, the surface clay-colored. The veil is only seen in the young stage, and then is very delicate and fibrillose. The stem is fleshy and fibrous, and somewhat mealy at the apex. The genus corresponds with Tricholoma of the white-spored agarics. All the species are regarded as unwholesome, and some are considered poisonous. The species largely occur during the autumn. Few have been studied in America.

Hebeloma crustuliniforme Bull.—This plant is usually common in some of the lawns, during the autumn, at Ithaca, N. Y. It often forms rings as it grows on the ground. It is from 5—7 cm. high, the cap 4—8 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 4—6 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is convex and expanded, somewhat umbonate, viscid when moist, whitish or tan color, darker over the center, where it is often reddish-brown. The gills are adnexed and rounded near the stem, crowded, whitish, then clay color and reddish-brown, the edge whitish and irregular. The gills are said to exude watery drops in wet weather. The stem is stuffed, later hollow, somewhat enlarged at the base, white, and mealy at the apex. Figure 152 is from plants (No. 2713, C. U. herbarium) collected in lawns on the Cornell University campus. The plants in this figure seem to represent the variety minor.

INOCYBE Fr.

In the genus Inocybe there is a universal veil which is fibrillose in character, and more or less closely joined with the cuticle of the pileus, and the surface of the pileus is therefore marked with fibrils or is more or less scaly. Sometimes the margin of the pileus possesses remnants of a veil which is quite prominent in a few species. The gills are adnate, or sinuate, rarely decurrent, and in one species they are free. It is thus seen that the species vary widely, and there may be, after a careful study of the species, grounds for the separation of the species into several genera. One of the most remarkable species is Inocybe echinata Roth. This plant is covered with a universal veil of a sooty color and powdery in nature. The gills are reddish purple, and the stem is of the same color, the spores on white paper of a faint purplish red color. Some place in it Psalliota. Collected at Ithaca in August, 1900.

TUBARIA W. Smith.

In the genus Tubaria the spores are rust-red, or rusty brown (ferruginous or fuscous-ferruginous), the stem is somewhat cartilaginous, hollow, and, what is more important, the gills are more or less decurrent, broad next to the stem, and thus more or less triangular in outline. It is related to Naucoria and Galera, but differs in the decurrent gills. The pileus is convex, or with an umbilicus.

Tubaria pellucida Bull.—This species grows by roadsides in grassy places. The plants are from 3—4 cm. high, and the cap 1—2 cm. in diameter, and the stem 2—3 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is conic, then bell-shaped, often expanded and with a slight umbo; the color is dull, reddish brown, and it has a watery appearance. The plant is sometimes enveloped with a loose and delicate universal or outer veil, which remains on the margin of the cap in the form of silky squamules as shown in the figure. The margin of the pileus is faintly striate. The gills are only slightly decurrent. Figure 153 is from plants (No. 2360 C. U. herbarium) collected along a street in Ithaca.

The stem is at first solid, becoming hollow, tapering above, and the apex is mealy.

CREPIDOTUS Fr.

In Crepidotus the pileus is lateral, or eccentric, and thus more or less shelving, or it is resupinate, that is, lying flat or nearly so on the wood. The species are usually of small size, thin, soft and fleshy. The spores are reddish brown (ferruginous). The genus corresponds to Pleurotus among the white-spored agarics, or to Claudopus among the rosy-spored ones. Peck describes eleven species in the 39th Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 69 et seq., 1886.

Crepidotus versutus Pk.—This little Crepidotus has a pure white pileus which is covered with a soft, whitish down. The plants grow usually on the underside of rotten wood or bark, and then the upper side of the cap lies against the wood, and is said to be resupinate. Sometimes where they grow toward the side of the log the cap has a tendency to be shelving. In the resupinate forms the cap is attached usually near one side, and then is produced more at the opposite side, so that it is more or less lateral or eccentric. As the plant becomes mature the edge is free from the wood for some distance, only being attached over a small area. The cap is somewhat reniform, thin, and from 6—12 cm. in diameter. The gills radiate from the point where the cap is attached to the substratum, are not crowded, rounded behind, that is, at the lateral part of the cap where they converge. They are whitish, then ferruginous from the spores. The spores are sub-elliptical, sometimes inequilateral, and measure from 8—12 x 4—6 mu.



Crepidotus herbarum Pk., is a closely related species, separated on account of the smaller spores. Both species grow either on herbs or decaying wood. As suggested by Peck they are both closely related to C. chimonophilus Berk., which has "oblong elliptical" spores. The shape of the spores does not seem to differ from the specimens which I have taken to be C. versutus.

Crepidotus applanatus Fr., is a larger species, shelving and often imbricated. Crepidotus fulvotomentosus Pk., is a pretty species with a tomentose cap and tawny scales, usually occurring singly. It is closely related to C. calolepis Fr.

Figure 154 is from plants of Crepidotus versutus Pk., (No. 2732 C. U. herbarium) collected on rotting wood at Freeville, N. Y., eight miles from Ithaca. The plants are represented twice natural size.

CORTINARIUS Fr.

The genus Cortinarius is chiefly distinguished from the other genera of the ochre-spored agarics by the presence of a spider-web-like (arachnoid) veil which is separate from the cuticle of the pileus, that is, superficial. The gills are powdered by the spores, that is, the spores fall away with difficulty and thus give the gills a pulverulent appearance. The plants are fleshy and decay easily. It is necessary to have plants in the young as well as the old state to properly get at the characters, and the character of the veil is only seen in young or half developed specimens. The species are to be distinguished from other ochre-spored agarics with a cobwebby veil by the fact that the veil in Cortinarius is superficial and the gills powdery. The number of species is very large, and they are difficult to determine. They mostly occur in northern countries and in the autumn or late summer; some species, however, occur during early summer. Peck, 23d Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 105—112, describes 21 species.