Chapter 9

=Amanita frostiana= Pk. =Poisonous.=--According to Dr. Peck, who published the first description of this plant, it grows in company with _Amanita muscaria_, but seems to prefer more dense woods, especially mixed or hemlock woods, and occurs from June to October. The plant is 5--8 cm. high, the caps 2--5 cm. broad, and the stems 3--6 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is "convex to expanded, bright orange or yellow, warty, sometimes nearly or quite smooth, striate on the margin; =lamellæ= white or tinged with yellow; =stem= white or yellowish, stuffed, bearing a slight, sometimes evanescent annulus, bulbous at the base, the bulb _slightly margined_ by the volva; spores globose," 7.5--10 µ in diameter. He notes that it appears like a small form of _A. muscaria_, to which it was first referred as _var. minor_,--"The only characters for distinguishing it are its small size and its globose spores." It is near _A. muscaria var. puella_ Pers.

I have several times found this plant in the Adirondack mountains, N. Y., and Ithaca, and also at Blowing Rock, N. C. The volva is often yellowish, so that the warts on the pileus are also yellow, and sometimes the only remnants of the volva on the base of the stem are yellow or orange particles. The annulus is also frequently yellow. In our plants, which seem to be typical, the spores are nearly globose, varying to oval, and with the minute point where the spore was attached to the sterigma at the smaller end, the spores usually being finely granular, 6--9 µ in diameter, and rarely varying towards short elliptical, showing a tendency to approach the shape of the spores of _A. muscaria_. The species as I have seen it is a very variable one, large forms being difficult to separate from _A. muscaria_, on the one hand, and others difficult to separate from the depauperate forms of _A. cæsarea_. In the latter, however, the striæ are coarser, though the yellow color may be present only on portions of the pileus. The spores of _A. cæsarea_ are from globose to oval, ovate or short elliptical, the globose ones often agreeing in size with the spores of _A. frostiana_, but they usually contain a prominent oil drop or "nucleus," often nearly filling the spore. In some specimens of _A. frostiana_ the spores are quite variable, being nearly globose, ovate to elliptical, approaching the spores of _A. muscaria_. These intermediate forms should not in themselves lead one to regard all these three species as representing variations in a single variable species. With observations in the field I should think it possible to separate them.

=Amanita phalloides= Fr. =Deadly Poisonous.=--The _Amanita phalloides_ and its various forms, or closely related species, are the most dangerous of the poisonous mushrooms. For this reason the _A. phalloides_ is known as the _deadly agaric_, or _deadly amanita_. The plant is very variable in color, the forms being pure white, or yellowish, green, or olive to umber. Variations also occur in the way in which the volva ruptures, as well as in the surface characters of the stem, and thus it is often a difficult matter to determine whether all these forms represent a single variable species or whether there are several species, and if so, what are the limits of these species. Whether these are recognized as different forms of one species or as different species, they are all very poisonous. The plant usually occurs in woods or along the borders of woods. It does, however, sometimes occur in lawns. It varies from 6--20 cm. high, the cap from 3--10 cm. broad, and the stem 6--10 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is fleshy, viscid or slimy when moist, smooth, that is, not striate, orbicular to bell-shaped, convex and finally expanded, and in old specimens more or less depressed by the elevation of the margin. The cap is often free from any remnants of the volva, while in other cases portions of the volva or outer veil appear on the surface of the cap in rather broad patches, or it may be broken up into a number of smaller ones quite evenly distributed over the surface of the cap. The presence or absence of these scales on the cap depends entirely on the way in which the volva ruptures. When there is a clean rupture at the apex the pileus is free from scales, but if portions of the apex of the volva are torn away they are apt to remain on the cap.

The white form is common in this country, and so is the olive or umber form. The yellow form is rarer. Sometimes there is only a tinge of yellow at the center of the white pileus, while in other cases a large part of the pileus may be yellow, a deeper shade usually on the center. The green form is probably more common in Europe than in this country. The olive form varies considerably also in the depth of the color, usually darker on the center and fading out to light olive or gray, or whitish, on the margin. In other cases the entire pileus may be dark olive or umber color. The =gills= in all the forms are white, and free from the stem or only joined by a narrow line. The stem is stuffed when young, but in age is nearly or quite hollow. It is cylindrical, 6--20 cm. long × 6--12 mm. in thickness. In the larger specimens the bulb is quite prominent and abrupt, while in the smaller specimens it is not always proportionally so large. The =stem= is usually smooth and the color is white, except in the dark forms, when it is dingy or partakes more or less of the color of the pileus, though much lighter in shade. There is a tendency in these forms to a discoloration of the stem where handled or bruised, and this should caution one in comparing such forms with the edible _A. rubescens_.

Perhaps no part of the plant is more variable than the outer veil or volva. Where the volva is quite thick and stout it usually splits at the apex, and there is a prominent free limb, as shown in Fig. 55. Sometimes thin portions of the volva are caught, and remain on the surface of the pileus. But when the volva is thinner and of a looser texture, it splits transversely about the middle, circumscissile, and all or a large part of the upper half of the volva then clings to the cap, and is separated into patches. Between this and the former condition there seem to be all gradations. Some of these are shown in Fig. 56, which is from a photograph of dark olive and umber forms, from plants collected in the Blue Ridge mountains, at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. In the very young plant the volva split transversely (in a circumscissile fashion) quite clearly, and the free limb is quite short and distant from the stem on the margin of the saucer-like bulb. In the large and fully expanded plant at the center, the volva ruptured irregularly at the apex, and portions of the thin upper half remain as patches on the cap while the larger part remains as the free limb, attached at the margin of the broad saucer-shaped bulb, and collapsed up against the base of the stem.

Figure 58 and the small plant in Fig. 56, both from photographs of the sooty form of _Amanita phalloides_, show in a striking manner the typical condition of the circumscissile volva margining the broad saucer-like bulb as described for _Amanita mappa_. The color of _A. mappa_ is usually said to be straw color, but Fries even says that the color is as in _A. phalloides_, "now white, now green, now yellow, now dark brown" (Epicrisis, page 6). According to this, Fig. 58 would represent _A. mappa_.

The variable condition in this one species _A. phalloides_, now splitting at the apex, now tearing up irregularly, now splitting in a definitely circumscissile manner, seems to bid defiance to any attempt to separate the species of _Amanita_ into groups based on the manner in which the volva ruptures. While it seems to be quite fixed and characteristic in certain species, it is so extremely variable in others as to lead to the suspicion that it is responsible in some cases for the multiplication and confusion of species. At the same time, the occurrence of some of these forms at certain seasons of the year suggests the desirability of prolonged and careful study of fresh material, and the search for additional evidence of the unity of these forms, or of their definite segregation.

Since the _Amanita phalloides_ occurs usually in woods, or along borders of woods, there is little danger of confounding it with edible mushrooms collected in lawns distant from the woods, and in open fields. However, it does occur in lawns bordering on woods, and in the summer of 1899 I found several of the white forms of this species in a lawn distant from the woods. This should cause beginners and those not thoroughly familiar with the appearance of the plant to be extremely cautious against eating mushrooms simply because they were not collected in or near the woods. Furthermore, sometimes the white form of the deadly amanita possesses a faint tinge of pink in the gills, which might lead the novice to mistake it for the common mushroom. The bulb of the deadly amanita is usually inserted quite deep in the soil or leaf mold, and specimens are often picked leaving the very important character of the volva in the ground, and then the plant might easily be taken for the common mushroom, or more likely for the smooth lepiota, _Lepiota naucina_, which is entirely white, the gills only in age showing a faint pink tinge. It is very important, therefore, that, until one has such familiarity with these plants that they are easily recognized in the absence of some of these characters, the stem should be carefully dug from the soil. In the case of the specimens of the deadly amanita growing in the lawn on the campus of Cornell University, the stems were sunk to three to four inches in the quite hard ground.

=Amanita verna= Bull. =Deadly Poisonous.=--The _Amanita verna_ is by some considered as only a white form of the _Amanita phalloides_. It is of a pure white color, and this in addition to its very poisonous property has led to its designation as the "destroying angel."

The =pileus= is smooth and viscid when moist; the gills free; the =stem= stuffed or hollow in age; the =annulus= forms a broad collar, and the =volva= is split at the apex, and being quite stout, the free limb is prominent, and it hugs more or less closely to the base of the stem. Figure 59 represents the form of the plant which Gillet recognizes as _A. verna_; the pileus convex, the annulus broad and entire, and the stem scaly. These floccose scales are formed as a result of the separation of the annulus from the outer layer of the stem.

The characters presented in the formation of the veil and annulus in this species are very interesting, and sometimes present two of the types in the formation of the veil and annulus found in the genus _Amanita_. In the very young plant, in the button stage, as the young gills lie with their edges close against the side of the stem, loose threads extend from the edges of the gills to the outer layer of the stem. This outer layer of the stem forms the veil, and is more or less loosely connected with the firmer portion of the stem by loose threads. As the pileus expands, the threads connecting the edges of the gills with the veil are stronger than those which unite the veil with the surface of the stem. The veil is separated from the stem then, simultaneously, or nearly so, throughout its entire extent, and is not ripped up from below as in _Amanita velatipes_.

As the pileus expands, then, the veil lies closely over the edges of the gills until finally it is freed from them and from the margin of the pileus. As the veil is split off from the surface of the stem, the latter is torn into numerous floccose scales, as shown in Fig. 59.

In other cases, in addition to the primary veil which is separated from the stem in the manner described above, there is a secondary veil formed in exactly the same way as that described for _Amanita velatipes_.

In such cases there are two veils, or a double veil, each attached to the margin of the pileus, the upper one ascending over the edges of the gills and attached above on the stem, while the lower one descends and is attached below as it is being ripped up from a second layer of the stem. Figures 59--61 are from plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in September, 1899.

=Amanita virosa= Fr. =Deadly Poisonous.=--This plant also by some is regarded as only a form of _Amanita phalloides_. It is a pure white plant and the pileus is viscid as in the _A. verna_ and _A. phalloides_. The volva splits at the apex as in _A. verna_, but the veil is very fragile and torn into shreds as the pileus expands, portions of it clinging to the margin of the cap as well as to the stem, as shown in Fig. 62. The stem is also adorned with soft floccose scales. Gillet further states that the pileus is conic to campanulate, not becoming convex as in _A. verna_ and _A. phalloides_.

The variability presented in the character of the veil and in the shape of the pileus suggests, as some believe, that all these are but forms of a single variable species. On the other hand, we need a more careful and extended field study of these variations. Doubtless different interpretations of the specific limits by different students will lead some to recognize several species where others would recognize but one. Since species are not distinct creations there may be tolerably good grounds for both of these views.

=Amanita floccocephala= Atkinson. =Probably Poisonous.=--This species occurs in woods and groves at Ithaca during the autumn. The plants are medium sized, 6--8 cm. high, the cap 3--6 cm. broad, and the stems 4--6 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is hemispherical to convex, and expanded, smooth, whitish, with a tinge of straw color, and covered with torn, thin floccose patches of the upper half of the circumscissile volva. The =gills= are white and adnexed. The =spores= are globose, 7--10 µ. The =stem= is cylindrical or slightly tapering above, hollow or stuffed, floccose scaly and abruptly bulbous below. The =annulus= is superior, that is, near the upper end of the stem, membranaceous, thin, sometimes tearing, as in _A. virosa_. The =volva= is circumscissile, the margin of the bulb not being clear cut and prominent, because there is much refuse matter and soil interwoven with the lower portion of the volva. The bulb closely resembles those in Cooke's figure (Illustrations, 4) of _A. mappa_. Figure 63 shows these characters well.

=Amanita velatipes= Atkinson. =Properties Unknown.=--This plant is very interesting since it shows in a striking manner the peculiar way in which the veil is formed in some of the species of _Amanita_. Though not possessing brilliant colors, it is handsome in its form and in the peculiar setting of the volva fragments on the rich brown or faint yellow of the pileus. It has been found on several occasions during the month of July in a beech woods on one of the old flood plains of Six-mile creek, one of the gorges in the vicinity of Ithaca, N. Y. The mature plant is from 15--20 cm. high, the cap from 8--10 cm. broad, and the stem 1--1.5 cm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is viscid when moist, rounded, then broadly oval and convex to expanded, striate on the margin, sometimes in old plants the margin is elevated. It is smooth throughout, and of a soft, rich hair brown, or umber brown color, darker in the center. Sometimes there is a decided but dull maize yellow tinge over the larger part of the pileus, but even then the center is often brown in color, shading into the yellow color toward the margin; the light yellow forms in age, often thinning out to a cream color. The flesh of the pileus is rather thin, even in the center, and becomes very thin toward the margin, as shown in Fig. 67. The scales on the pileus are more or less flattened, rather thin, clearly separated from the pileus, and easily removed. They are more or less angular, and while elongated transversely at first, become nearly isodiametric as the pileus becomes fully expanded, passing from an elongated form to rectangular, or sinuous in outline, the margin more or less upturned, especially in age, when they begin to loosen and "peel" from the surface of the cap. They are lighter in color than the pileus and I have never observed the yellow tint in them. The =gills= are white, broad at the middle, about 1 cm., and taper gradually toward each end. The =spores= are usually inequilaterally oval, 8--10 × 6--7 µ, granular when young, when mature with a large oil drop.

The =stem= is cylindrical, somewhat bulbous, the bulb often tapering abruptly, as shown in Figs. 64, 66. The stem is white, smooth, or floccose scaly where the veil has been ripped off from it. It is hollow and stuffed with loose cottony threads, as shown in Fig. 67. The =veil= is formed by the ripping up of the outer layer of the stem as the latter elongates and as the pileus expands. When it is freed from the margin of the cap it collapses and hangs downward as a broad collar (Fig. 64). The =annulus= is inferior, its position on the stem being due to the peculiar way in which it is formed.

Some of the stages of development are illustrated in Figs. 64--67. The buttons are queer looking objects, the bulb being the most prominent part. It tapers abruptly below, and on the upper side is the small rounded young cap seated in the center. The volva is present as a rough floccose layer, covering the upper part of the bulb and the young cap. As the stem elongates and the pileus enlarges and expands, the volva is torn into areolate patches. The lower patches, those adjoining the margin of the cap and the upper part of the bulb, are separated in a more or less concentric manner. One or more of them lie on the upper part of the bulb, forming the "limb" of the "ocreate" volva. Others lie around the margin of the pileus. Sometimes an annular one bordering the pileus and bulb is left clinging part way up on the stem, as shown in Fig. 66. The concentric arrangement on the pileus is sometimes shown for a considerable time, as in Fig. 67, the elongated areas being present in greater number at this age of the pileus. However, as the pileus expands more, these are separated into smaller areas and their connection with the surface of the pileus becomes less firm.

The formation of the veil and annulus can be easily followed in these figures. The margin of the cap in the button stage is firmly connected with the outer layer of the stem at its lower end. This probably occurs by the intermingling growth of the threads from the lower end of the stem and the margin of the cap, while the edges of the gills are quite free from the stem. Now as the stem elongates and the cap expands the veil is "ripped" up from the outer part of the stem. This is very clearly shown in Fig. 66, especially where two strips on the stem have become disconnected from the margin of the cap and are therefore left in position on the outside of the stem.

This species is related to _A. excelsa_ Fr., which is said to have a superior ring.

=Amanita cothurnata= Atkinson. =Probably Poisonous.=--The booted amanita, _Amanita cothurnata_, I have found in two different years in the Blue Ridge mountains at Blowing Rock, N. C., once in 1888, during the first week of September, and again during the three first weeks in September, 1899. It occurs sparingly during the first week or so of September, and during the middle of the month is very abundant. The species seems to be clearly distinct from other species of _Amanita_, and there are certain characters so persistent as to make it easily recognizable. It ranges in height from 7--12 cm. and the caps are 3--7 cm. or more broad, while the stems are 4--10 mm. in thickness. The entire plant is usually white, but in some specimens the cap has a tinge of citron yellow, or in others tawny olive, in the center.

The =pileus= is fleshy, and passes, in its development, from nearly globose to hemispherical, convex, expanded, and when specimens are very old sometimes the margin is elevated. It is usually white, though specimens are found with a tinge of citron yellow in the center, or of tawny olive in the center of other specimens. The pileus is viscid, strongly so when moist. It is finely striate on the margin, and covered with numerous, white, floccose scales from the upper half of the volva, forming more or less dense patches, which may wash off in heavy rains. The =gills= are rounded next the stem, and quite remote from it. The edge of the gills is often eroded or frazzly from the torn out threads with which they were loosely connected to the upper side of the veil in the young or button stage. The =spores= are globose or nearly so, with a large "nucleus" nearly filling the spore.

The =stem= is cylindrical, even, and expanded below into quite a large oval bulb, the stem just above the bulb being margined by a close fitting roll of the volva, and the upper edge of this presenting the appearance of having been sewed at the top like the rolled edge of a garment or buskin. The surface of the stem is minutely floccose scaly or strongly so, and decidedly hollow even from a very young stage, or sometimes when young with loose threads in the cavity.

Figures 68--70, from plants (No. 3715, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899, illustrate certain of the features in the form and development of this plant.

In _Amanita frostiana_ the remains of the volva sometimes form a similar collar, but not so stout, on the base of the stem. The variations in _A. frostiana_ where the stem, annulus and gills are white might suggest that there is a close relationship between _A. frostiana_ and _A. cothurnata_, and that the latter is only a form of the former. From a careful study of the two plants growing side by side the evidence is convincing that the two are distinct. _Amanita frostiana_ occurs also at Blowing Rock, appearing earlier in the season than _A. cothurnata_, and also being contemporary with it. _A. frostiana_ is more variable, not nearly so viscid, nor nearly so abundant, the stem is solid or stuffed, the annulus is more frail and evolved from the stem in a different manner. The volva does not leave such a constant and well defined roll where it separated on the stem transversely, and the pileus is yellow or orange. When _A. cothurnata_ is yellowish at all it is a different tint of yellow and then only a tinge of yellow at the center. Albino or faded forms of _A. frostiana_ might occur, but we would not expect them to appear at a definite season of the year in great abundance while the normal form, showing no intergrading specimens in the same locality, continued to appear in the same abundance and with the same characters as before. The dried plants of _A. cothurnata_ are apt to become tinged with yellow on the gills, the upper part of the stem and upper part of the annulus during the processes of drying, but the pileus does not change in like manner, nor do these plants show traces of yellow on these parts when fresh. The spores are also decidedly different, though the shape and size do not differ to any great extent. In _A. frostiana_ and the pale forms of the species the spores are nearly globose or oval, rarely with a tendency to become elliptical, but _the content is quite constantly finely granular_, while the spores of _A. cothurnata_ are perhaps more constantly globose or nearly so, but the spore is _nearly filled with a highly refractive oil globule or "nucleus."_ The pileus of _A. frostiana_ is also thinner than that of _A. cothurnata_. It is nearer, in some respects, to specimens of _Amanita pantherina_ received from Bresadola, of Austria-Hungary.

=Amanita spreta= Pk. =Said to be Poisonous.=--According to Peck this species grows in open or bushy places. The specimens illustrated in Fig. 71 grew in sandy ground by the roadside near trees in the edge of an open field at Blowing Rock, N. C., and others were found in a grove. The plants are 10--15 cm. high, the caps 6--12 cm. broad, and the stems 8--12 mm. in thickness. The =pileus= is convex to expanded, gray or light drab, and darker on the center, or according to Dr. Peck it may be white. It is smooth, or with only a few remnants of the volva, striate on the margin, and 1--.5 cm. thick at the center. The =gills= are white, adnexed, that is they reach the stem by their upper angle. The =stem= is of the same color as the pileus, but somewhat lighter, white to light gray or light drab, cylindrical, not bulbous, hollow or stuffed. The =annulus= is thin and attached above the middle of the stem. The =volva= is sordid white, and sheathes the stem with a long free limb of 3--5 lobes. It splits at the apex, but portions sometimes cling to the surface of the pileus.

Figure 71 is from plants (No. 3707, C. U.) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899.

=Amanita cæsarea= Scop. =Edible=, _but use great caution_.--This plant is known as the orange amanita, royal agaric, Cæsar's agaric, etc. It is one of the most beautiful of all the agarics, and is well distributed over the earth. With us it is more common in the Southern States. It occurs in the summer and early autumn in the woods. It is easily recognized by its usually large size, yellow or orange color of the cap, gills, stem and ring, and the prominent, white, sac-like volva at the base of the stem. It is usually 12--20 cm. high, the cap 5--10 cm. broad, and the stems 6--10 mm. in thickness, though it may exceed this size, and depauperate forms are met with which are much smaller.

The =pileus= is ovate to bell-shaped, convex, and finally more or less expanded, when the surface may be nearly flat or the center may be somewhat elevated or umbonate and the margin curved downward. The surface is smooth except at the margin, where it is prominently striate. The color varies from orange to reddish or yellow, usually the well developed and larger specimens have the deeper and richer colors, while the smaller specimens have the lighter colors, and the color is usually deeper on the center of the pileus. The =gills= are yellow, and free from the stem. The =stem= is hollow, even in young plants, when it may be stuffed with loose threads. It is often very floccose scaly below the annulus. It is cylindrical, only slightly enlarged below, where it is covered by the large, fleshy, sac-like white volva. The =annulus= is membranaceous, large, and hangs like a broad collar from the upper part of the stem. The stem and ring are orange or yellow, the depth of the color varying more with the size of the plant than is the case with the color of the cap. In small specimens the stem is often white, especially in depauperate specimens are the stem and annulus white, and even the gills are white when the volva may be so reduced as to make it difficult to distinguish the specimens from similar specimens of the poisonous fly agaric.

In the button stage the plant is ovate and the white color of the volva, which at this time entirely surrounds the plants, presents an appearance not unlike that of an egg. The volva splits open at the apex as the stem elongates. The veil is often connected by loose threads with the outer portion of the stem and as the pileus expands this is torn away, leaving coarse floccose scales on the stem. Some of the different stages in the opening of the plant are shown in Fig. 72. This illustration is taken from a photograph of plants (No. 3726, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899. The plant is said to be one of the best esculents, and has been prized as an article of food from ancient times. Great caution should be used in distinguishing it from the fly agaric and from other amanitas.

=Amanita rubescens= Fr. =Edible=, _but use great caution_.--The reddish amanita, _Amanita rubescens_, is so called because of the sordid reddish color diffused over the entire plant, and especially because bruised portions quickly change to a reddish color. The plant is often quite large, from 12--20 cm. high, the cap 8--12 cm. broad and the stem 8--12 mm. in thickness, but it is sometimes much smaller. It occurs during the latter part of the summer and in early autumn, in woods and open places.

The =pileus= is oval to convex, and becoming expanded when old. It is smooth or faintly striate on the margin, and covered with numerous scattered, thin, floccose, grayish scales, forming remnants of the larger part of the volva or outer veil. The color of the cap varies correspondingly, but is always tinged more or less distinctly with pink, red, or brownish red hues. The =gills= are white or whitish and free from the stem. The =stem= is nearly cylindrical, tapering some above, and with a prominent bulb which often tapers abruptly below. In addition to the suffused dull reddish color the stem is often stained with red, especially where handled or touched by some object. There are very few evidences of the volva on the stem since the volva is so floccose and torn into loose fragments, most of which remain on the surface of the cap. Sometimes a few of these loose fragments are seen on the upper portion of the bulb, but they are easily removed by handling or by rains. The =annulus= is membranous, broad, and fragile.

Since the plant has become well known it is regarded as excellent and wholesome for food and pleasant to the taste. In case of the larger specimens there should be no difficulty in distinguishing it from others by those who care to compare the descriptions closely with the fresh specimens. But as in all cases beginners should use extreme caution in eating plants they have not become thoroughly familiar with. Small specimens of this species sometimes show but little of the reddish color, and are therefore difficult to determine.

Figures 73 and 74 are from plants (No. 3727 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

=Amanita solitaria= Bull. =Edible=, _but use caution_.--The solitary amanita, like many other plants, is not always true to its name. While it often occurs solitary, it does occur sometimes in groups. It is one of the largest of the amanitas. Its large size, together with its chalky white or grayish white color, and ragged or shaggy appearance, makes it a striking object in the woods, or along roadsides in woods where it grows. Frequently parts of the cap, the entire stem and the gills are covered with a white, crumbly, floccose substance of a mealy consistency which often sticks to the hands or other objects. The plant ranges from 15--20 cm. or more high, the cap from 8--15 cm. broad, and the stems are 1--2 cm. or more in thickness.

In form the =pileus= ranges from nearly globose in the button stage, to hemispherical, convex and expanded, when quite old the margin becoming more or less elevated. It is covered either with flaky or floccose portions of the volva, or with more or less distinct conic white scales, especially toward the center. The conic scales are easily rubbed off in handling or are easily washed off by rains. Many of them are loosened and fall because of the tension produced by the expanding pileus on the surface of which they rest. These scales vary in size from quite small ones, appearing like granules, to those fewer in number and larger, 3 mm. high and nearly as broad at the base. In other cases the scales are harder and stouter and dark colored. These forms will be discussed after the description of the other parts of the plant.

The =gills= are free, or are only attached by the upper inner angle; the edges are often floccose where they are torn from the slight union with the upper surface of the veil. The =stem= is cylindrical, solid or stuffed when old, enlarged usually below into a prominent bulb which then tapers into a more or less elongated root-like process, sometimes extending 5--10 cm. in the ground below the bulb. In rare cases the bulb is not present, but the cylindrical stem extends for a considerable distance into the ground. The =veil= is a very interesting part of the plant and the manner in which it forms and disappears as the cap expands is worth a careful study. This is well shown in Figs. 75, 76, from photographs of plants (No. 3731 C. U. herbarium) made at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

During the latter part of August and the first three weeks of September the plants were quite common in the mountain woods at Blowing Rock. In certain features there was close agreement in the case of all the specimens examined, especially in the long rooting character of the base of the stem. The veil and annulus were also quite constant in their characters, though sometimes a tendency was manifested to split up more irregularly than at other times. In the character of the warts of the pileus there was great variation, showing typical forms of _Amanita solitaria_ and grading into forms which might be taken for typical _Amanita strobiliformis_. Especially is this so in the case of some of my specimens (No. 3733), where the scales are pyramidal, dark brown, surrounded by a sordid buff or grayish area, and these latter areas separated by narrow chinks whitish in color. The scales in this specimen are fixed quite firmly to the surface of the pileus. In other specimens (No. 3732) these hard scales remove quite easily, while in still another the pileus is almost smooth, even the floccose scales having been obliterated, while a very few of the hard angular warts are still present. In another half expanded plant (of No. 3732) the warts are pyramidal, 4--6 mm. long at the center of the pileus and rather closely imbricated, hard, and firmly joined to the surface of the cap. In Nos. 3733 and 3731 the spores measure 7--9 × 4--6 µ. In 3732 they are longer, varying from 7--11 µ.

The specimens with the long hard scales suggest _Amanita strobiliformis_ Vittad., but the long rooting base of the stem does not agree with the description of that plant, but does clearly agree with _Amanita solitaria_ Bull. A study of the variations in these plants suggests that _Amanita solitaria_ and _strobiliformis_ Vittad., represent only variations in a single species as Bulliard interpreted the species more than a century ago. Forms of the plant are also found which suggest that _A. polypyramis_ B. & C., collected in North Carolina, is but one of the variations of _A. solitaria_.

Figures 75, 76 show well certain stages in the development of this plant. The conical or pyramidal warts are formed in a very young stage of the plant by the primary separation of the outer part of the volva, and as the pileus expands more, and the cessation of growth of the outer veil proceeds inward, the scales become more widely separated at the apex and broader at the base. In some cases the volva is probably thinner than in others, and with the rapid expansion of the pileus in wet weather the scales would be smaller, or more floccose. But with different conditions, when it is not so wet, the plant expands less rapidly, the surface of the pileus becomes drier, the volva layer does not separate so readily and the fissures between the scales proceed deeper, and sometimes probably enter the surface of the pileus, so that the size of the warts is augmented. A similar state of things sometimes takes place on the base of the stem at the upper margin of the bulb, where the concentric fissures may extend to some distance in the stem, making the scales here more prominent in some specimens than in others. A similar variation in the character of the scales on the bulb of _Amanita muscaria_ is sometimes presented.

The veil is often loosely attached to the edges of the gills, and so is stripped off from the stem quite early. Sometimes it is more strongly adherent to the stem, or portions of it may be, when it is very irregularly ruptured as it is peeled off from the stem, as shown in the plant near the left side in Fig. 75. The veil is very fragile and often tears a little distance from the margin of the cap, while the portion attached to the stem forms the annulus. This condition is shown in the case of three plants in Fig. 75. The plant is said to be edible.

AMANITOPSIS Roze.

This genus has white spores, and a volva, but the annulus and inner veil are wanting. In other respects it agrees with _Amanita_. It is considered as a sub-genus of _Amanita_ by some.

=Amanitopsis vaginata= (Bull.) Roz. =Edible.=--The sheathed amanitopsis, _A. vaginata_, is a quite common and widely distributed plant in woods. It is well named since the prominent volva forms a large sheath to the cylindrical base of the stem. The plant occurs in several forms, a gray or mouse colored form, and a brownish or fulvous form, and sometimes nearly white. These forms are recognized by some as varieties, and by others as species. The plants are 8--15 cm. high, the caps 3--7 cm. broad, and the stems 5--8 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is from ovate to bell-shaped, then convex and expanded, smooth, rarely with fragments of the volva on the surface. The margin is thin and marked by deep furrows and ridges, so that it is deeply striate, or the terms sulcate or pectinate sulcate are used to express the character of the margin. The term pectinate sulcate is employed on account of a series of small elevations on the ridges, giving them a pectinate, or comb-like, appearance. The color varies from gray to mouse color, brown, or ochraceous brown. The flesh is white. The =gills= are white or nearly so, and free. The =spores= are globose, 7--10 µ in diameter. The =stem= is cylindrical, even, or slightly tapering upward, hollow or stuffed, not bulbous, smooth, or with mealy particles or prominent floccose scales. These scales are formed by the separation of the edges of the gills from the surface of the stem, to which they are closely applied before the pileus begins to expand. Threads of mycelium growing from the edge of the lamellæ and from the stem intermingle. When the pileus expands these are torn asunder, or by their pull tear up the outer surface of the stem. The =volva= forms a prominent sheath which is usually quite soft and easily collapses (Fig. 77).

The entire plant is very brittle and fragile. It is considered an excellent one for food. I often eat it raw when collecting.

Authors differ as to the number of species recognized in the plant as described above. Secretan recognized as many as ten species. The two prominent color forms are quite often recognized as two species, or by others as varieties; the gray or mouse colored form as _A. livida_ Pers., and the tawny form as _A. spadicea_ Pers. According to Fries and others the _livida_ appears earlier in the season than _spadicea_, and this fact is recognized by some as entitling the two to specific rank. Plowright (Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc., p. 40, 1897--98) points out that in European forms of _spadicea_ there is a second volva inside the outer, and in _livida_ there are "folds or wrinkles of considerable size on the inner surface of the volva." He thinks the two entitled to specific rank. At Ithaca and in the mountains of North Carolina I have found both forms appearing at the same season, and thus far have been unable to detect the differences noted by Plowright in the volva. But I have never found intergrading color forms, and have not yet satisfied myself as to whether or not the two should be entitled to specific rank.

Some of the other species of _Amanitopsis_ found in this country are =A. nivalis= Grev., an entirely white plant regarded by some as only a white form of =A. vaginata=. Another white plant is =A. volvata= Pk., which has elliptical spores, and is striate on the margin instead of sulcate.

=Amanitopsis farinosa= Schw.--The mealy agaric, or powdery amanita, is a pretty little species. It was first collected and described from North Carolina by de Schweinitz (Synop. fung. Car. No. 552, 1822), and the specimens illustrated in Fig. 78 were collected by me at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. Peck has given in the 33rd Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 49, an excellent description of the plant, though it often exceeds somewhat the height given by him. It ranges from 5--8 or 10 cm. high, the cap from 2--3 cm. broad, and the stem 3--6 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is from subglobose to convex and expanded, becoming nearly plane or even depressed by the elevation of the margin in old specimens. The color is gray or grayish brown, or mouse colored. The pileus is thin, and deeply striate on the margin, covered with a grayish floccose, powdery or mealy substance, the remnant of the evanescent volva. This substance is denser at the center and is easily rubbed off. The =gills= are white and free from the stem. The =spores= are subglobose and ovate to elliptical, 6--7 µ long. The =stem= is cylindrical, even, hollow or stuffed, whitish or gray and very slightly enlarged at the base into a small rounded bulb which is quite constant and characteristic, and at first is covered on its upper margin by the floccose matter from the volva.

At Blowing Rock the plants occurred in sandy soil by roadsides or in open woods. In habit it resembles strikingly forms of _Amanitopsis vaginata_, but the volva is entirely different (Fig. 78). Although _A. vaginata_ was common in the same locality, I searched in vain for intermediate forms which I thought might be found. Sometimes the floccose matter would cling together more or less, and portions of it remained as patches on the lower part of the stem, while depauperate forms of _A. vaginata_ would have a somewhat reduced volva, but in no case did I find intermediate stages between the two kinds of volva.

LEPIOTA Fr.

The genus _Lepiota_ lacks a volva, but the veil is present forming a ring on the stem. The genus is closely related to _Amanita_, from which it differs in the absence of the volva, or perhaps more properly speaking in the fact that the universal veil is firmly connected (concrete with) with the pileus, and with the base of the stem, so that a volva is not formed. The gills are usually free from the stem, some being simply adnexed, but in some species connected with a collar near the stem. The stem is fleshy and is easily separable from the cap. A number of the species are edible. Peck, 35th Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 150--164, describes 18 species. Lloyd, Mycol. Notes, November, 1898, describes 9 species.

=Lepiota naucina= Fr. (_Lepiota naucinoides_ Pk., _Annularia lævis_ Krombh.) =Edible.=--The smooth lepiota, _L. naucina_, grows in lawns, in pastures and by roadsides, etc. It occurs during the latter part of summer and during autumn, being more abundant in September and early October. It is entirely white, or the cap is sometimes buff, and in age the gills become dirty pink in color. It is from 8--12 cm. high, the cap 5--10 cm. broad, and the stem 8--15 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is very fleshy, nearly globose, then convex to nearly expanded, smooth, or rarely the surface is broken into minute scales. The =gills= are first white, free from the stem, and in age assume a dull pink tinge. The =spores= are usually white in mass, but rarely when caught on white paper they show a faint pink tinge. The spores are elliptical to oval. The =stem= is nearly cylindrical, gradually enlarging below so that it is clavate, nearly hollow or stuffed with loose threads.

Since the plant occurs in the same situations as the _Agaricus campestris_ it might be mistaken for it, especially for white forms. But of course no harm could come by eating it by mistake for the common mushroom, for it is valued just as highly for food by some who have eaten it. If one should look at the gills, however, they would not likely mistake it for the common mushroom because the gills become pink only when the plant is well expanded and quite old. There is much more danger in mistaking it for the white amanitas, _A. phalloides_, _A. verna_, or _A. virosa_, since the gills of these deadly plants are white, and they do sometimes grow in lawns and other grassy places where the smooth lepiota and the common mushroom grow. For this reason one should study the descriptions and illustrations of these amanitas given on preceding pages, and especially should the suggestions given there about care in collecting plants be followed, until one is so certainly familiar with the characters that the plants would be known "on sight."

The pink color of the gills of this lepiota has led certain students of the fungi into mistakes of another kind. This pink color of the gills has led some to place the plant among the rosy spored agarics in the genus _Annularia_, where it was named _Annularia lævis_ by Krombholtz (vide Bresadola Funghi Mangerecci e velenosi, p. 29, 1899). It fits the description of that plant exactly. The pink color of the gills, as well as the fact that the gills turn brownish when dry, has led to a confusion in some cases of the _Lepiota naucina_ with the chalky agaric, _Agaricus cretaceus_. The external resemblance of the plants, as shown in various illustrations, is very striking, and in the chalky agaric the gills remain pink very late, only becoming brown when very old.

=Lepiota procera= Scop. =Edible.=--The parasol mushroom, _Lepiota procera_, grows in pastures, lawns, gardens, along roadsides, or in thin woods, or in gardens. It is a large and handsome plant and when expanded seems not inappropriately named. It is from 12--20 cm. or more high, the cap expands from 5--12 cm., while the stem is 4--7 mm. in thickness. It occurs during summer and in early autumn.

The =pileus= is oval, then bell-shaped, convex and nearly expanded, with usually a more or less prominent elevation (umbo) at the center. Sometimes it is depressed at the center. It is grayish brown or reddish brown in color on the surface and the flesh is whitish. As the cap expands the surface layer ceases to grow and is therefore cracked, first narrow chinks appearing, showing white or grayish threads underneath. As the cap becomes more expanded the brown surface is torn into scales, which give the cap a more or less shaggy appearance except on the umbo, where the color is more uniform. The torn surface of the pileus shows numerous radiating fibres, and it is soft and yielding to the touch. The =gills= are remote from the stem, broad and crowded. The =spores= are long, elliptical, 12--17 µ long. The =stem= is cylindrical, hollow, or stuffed, even, enlarged below into a prominent bulb, of the same color as the pileus, though paler, especially above the annulus. The surface is usually cracked into numerous small scales, the chinks between showing the white inner portion of the stem. The =ring= is stout, narrow, usually quite free from the stem, so that it can be moved up and down on the stem, and is called a movable ring.

Figure 81 is from plants (No. 3842, C. U. herbarium) collected in a garden at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

A closely related plant, _Lepiota rachodes_ Vitt., has smaller spores, 9--12 × 7--9 µ. It is also edible, and by some considered only a variety of _L. procera_. It is rare in this country, but appears about Boston in considerable quantities "in or near greenhouses or in enriched soil out of doors," where it has the appearance of an introduced plant (Webster, Rhodora, 1: 226, 1899). It is a much stouter plant than _L. procera_, the pileus usually depressed, much more coarsely scaly, and usually grows in dense clusters, while _L. procera_ usually occurs singly or scattered, is more slender, often umbonate. _L. rachodes_ has a veil with a double edge, the edges more or less fringed. The veil is fixed to the stem until the plant is quite mature, when it becomes movable. The flesh of the plant on exposure to the air becomes a brownish orange tint.

=Lepiota morgani= Pk.--This plant occurs from Ohio, southward and west. It grows in grassy places, especially in wet pastures. It is one of the largest of the lepiotas, ranging from 20--40 cm. high, the cap 20--30 cm. broad, and the stem about 2 cm. in thickness. The =pileus=, when fully expanded, is whitish, with large dark scales, especially toward the center. The =ring= is large, sometimes movable, and the =gills= and =spores= are greenish. Some report the plant as edible, while others say illness results from eating it.

=Lepiota americana= Pk. =Edible.=--This plant is widely distributed in the United States. The plants occur singly or are clustered, 6--12 cm. high, the cap 4--10 cm. broad, and the stem 4--10 mm. in thickness. The cap is adorned with reddish or reddish brown scales except on the center, where the color is uniform because the surface is not broken up into scales. The flesh is white, but changes to reddish when cut or bruised, and the whole plant becomes reddish on drying.

Figure 82 is from plants (No. 2718, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca.

The European plant, _L. badhami_, also reported in this country, changes to a brownish red. It is believed by some to be identical with _L. americana_.

=Lepiota acutesquamosa= Weinm.--This is a medium or small sized plant with a floccose pileus adorned with small, acute, erect scales, and has a loose, hairy or wooly veil which is often torn irregularly. The erect scales fall away from the pileus and leave little scars where they were attached.

=Lepiota cristata= A. & S. =Edible.=--The crested lepiota, _Lepiota cristata_, occurs in grassy places and borders of woods, in groves, etc., from May to September, and is widely distributed. The plant is small, 3--5 cm. high, the cap 1--4 cm. broad, and the stem 2--5 mm. in thickness. It grows in clusters or is scattered.

The =pileus= is ovate, bell-shaped, then convex and expanded, and thin. The surface is at first entirely dull reddish or reddish brown, but soon cracks into numerous scales of the same color arranged in a crested manner, more numerous between the margin and the center, and often arranged in a concentric manner. The center of the cap often preserves the uniform reddish brown color because the pileus at this point does not expand so much and therefore the surface does not crack, while the margin often becomes white because of the disappearance of the brown covering here. The =gills= are free from the stem, narrow, crowded, and close to the stem. The =spores= are more or less angular, elongated, more narrowed at one end, and measure 5--8 × 3--4 µ. The =stem= is slender, cylindrical, hollow, whitish, smooth. The =ring= is small, white, and easily breaks up and disappears.

The characters of the plant are well shown in Fig. 83 from plants collected at Ithaca. _Lepiota angustana_ Britz. is identical, and according to Morgan _L. miamensis_ Morgan is a white form of _L. angustana_.

=Lepiota asperula= Atkinson.--This lepiota resembles _A. asper_ in some respects, but it is smaller and the spores are much smaller, being very minute. The plant is 5--8 cm. high, the pileus 2--4 cm. broad, and the stem 4--6 mm. in thickness. It grows in leaf mould in the woods and has been found at Ithaca, N. Y., twice during July and September, 1897.

The =pileus= is convex and bell-shaped, becoming nearly or quite expanded. It is hair brown to olive brown in color. The surface is dry, made up of interwoven threads, and is adorned with numerous small, erect, pointed scales resembling in this respect _A. asper_ Fr. The =gills= are white or yellowish, free, but rather close to the stem, narrow, often eroded on the edge, sometimes forked near the stem, and some of them arranged in pairs. The spores are oblong, smooth, and very minute, measuring 5 × 2 µ. The =stem= is the same color as the pileus, cylindrical, hollow, with loose threads in the cavity, enlarged into a rounded bulb below, minutely downy to pubescent. The outer portion of the bulb is formed of intricately interwoven threads, among which are entangled soil and humus particles. The =veil= is white, silky, hairy, separating from the stem like a dense cortina, the threads stretched both above and below as shown in Fig. 84 from plants (No. 3157 C. U. herbarium), collected at Ithaca.

In some specimens, as the pileus expands, the spaces between the pointed scales are torn, thus forming quite coarse scales which are often arranged in more or less concentric rows, showing the yellow-tinged flesh in the cracks, and the coarse scales bearing the fine point at the center. A layer connecting the margin of the pileus with the base of the stem and covered with fine brown points, sometimes separates from the edge of the cap and the base of the stem, and clings partly to the cortina and partly to the stem in much the same way that portions of the volva cling to the stem of certain species of _Amanita_, as seen in _A. velatipes_ (Fig. 66). Sometimes this is left on the base of the stem and then resembles a short, free limb of a volva, and suggests a species of _Amanita_. The scales, however, are concrete with the pileus, and the species appears to show a closer relationship with _Lepiota_.

ARMILLARIA Fr.

In the genus _Armillaria_ the inner veil which forms a ring on the stem is present. The stem is fibrous, or the outer portion cartilaginous in some species, and not easily separable from the substance of the pileus (continuous with the hymenophore), and the gills are attached to the stem, sinuate, or decurrent, spores white. Peck, 43rd Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 40--45, describes 6 species.

Some of the species resemble very closely certain species of _Amanita_ or _Lepiota_, but can be distinguished by the firm continuity of the substance of the stem and cap.

=Armillaria mellea= Vahl. =Edible.=--This is one of the most common of the late summer and autumn fungi, and is widely distributed over the world. It grows about the bases of old stumps or dead trees, or from buried roots. Sometimes it is found attached to the living roots of trees. The plant occurs in tufts or clusters, several to many individuals growing together, the bases of their stems connected with a black rope-like strand from which they arise. The entire plant is often more or less honey colored, from which the plant gets its specific name. Its clustered habit, the usually prominent ring on the stems, and the sharp, blackish, erect scales which usually adorn the center of the cap, mark it as an easy plant to determine in most cases. The colors and markings, however, vary greatly, so that some of the forms are very puzzling. The plant varies in height from 10--15 cm., the cap from 5--10 cm. broad, and the stem 4--10 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is oval to convex and expanded, sometimes with a slight umbo or elevation at the center. The color varies from honey color to nearly white, or yellowish brown to dull reddish brown, usually darker on the center. In typical forms the pileus is adorned with pointed dark brown, or blackish, erect, scales especially abundant over the center, while the margin is often free from them, but may be marked with looser floccose, brownish, or yellowish scales. Sometimes there are no blackish pointed scales anywhere on the cap, only loose floccose colored scales, or in some forms the cap is entirely smooth. The margin in old specimens is often striate. The pileus is usually dry, but Webster cites an instance in which it was viscid in wet weather.

The =gills= are attached to the stem squarely (adnate) or they are decurrent (extend downward on the stem), are white, or whitish, becoming in age more or less dingy or stained. The spores are rounded or elliptical, 6--9 µ. The =stem= is elastic, spongy within and sometimes hollow. It is smooth or often floccose scaly below the ring, sometimes with prominent transverse bands of a hairy substance. It is usually whitish near the upper end, but dull brown or reddish brown below the annulus, sometimes distinctly yellowish. The =veil= varies greatly also. It may be membranaceous and thin, or quite thick, or in other cases may be absent entirely. The =ring= of course varies in a corresponding manner. As shown in Fig. 85 it is quite thick, so that it appears double on the edge, where it broke away from the inner and outer surfaces of the margin of the cap. It is frequently fixed to the stem, that is, not movable, but when very thin and frail it often disappears.

The honey colored agaric is said by nearly all writers to be edible, though some condemn it. It is not one of the best since it is of rather tough consistency. It is a species of considerable economic importance and interest, since it is a parasite on certain coniferous trees, and perhaps also on certain of the broad-leaved trees. It attacks the roots of these trees, the mycelium making its way through the outer layer, and then it grows beneath the bark. Here it forms fan-like sheets of mycelium which advance along both away from the tree and towards the trunk. It disorganizes and breaks down the tissues of the root here, providing a space for a thicker growth of the mycelium as it becomes older. In places the mycelium forms rope-like strands, at first white in color, but later becoming dark brown and shining. These cords or strands, known as _rhizomorphs_, extend for long distances underneath the bark of the root. They are also found growing in the hollow trunks of trees sometimes. In time enough of the roots are injured to kill the tree, or the roots are so weakened that heavy winds will blow the trees over.

The fruiting plants always arise from these rhizomorphs, and by digging carefully around the bases of the stems one can find these cords with the stems attached, though the attachment is frail and the stems are easily separated from the cords. Often these cords grow for years without forming any fruit bodies. In this condition they are often found by stripping off the bark from dead and rotting logs in the woods. These cords were once supposed to be separate fungi, and they were known under the name _Rhizomorpha subcorticalis_.

=Armillaria aurantia= Schaeff. (_Tricholoma peckii_ Howe) =Suspected.=--This is a very pretty species and rare in the United States. The plants are 6--8 cm. high, the cap 4--7 cm. broad, and the stem 6--8 mm. in thickness. It occurs in woods. It is known by its viscid pileus, the orange brown or ochraceous rufus color of the pileus and stem, and the color of the stem being confined to the superficial layer, which becomes torn into concentric floccose scales, forming numerous minute floccose irregular rings of color around the stem.

The =pileus= is convex to expanded, with an umbo, and the edge inrolled, fleshy, thin, viscid, ochraceous rufus (in specimens collected by myself), darker on the umbo, and minutely scaly from tufts of hairs, and the viscid cuticle easily peeling off. The =gills= are narrow, crowded, slightly adnexed, or many free, white, becoming brown discolored where bruised, and in drying brownish or rufus. The =spores= are minute, globose to ovoid, or rarely sub-elliptical when a little longer, with a prominent oil globule usually, 3--3.5 × 3--5 µ, sometimes a little longer when the elliptical forms are presented. The =stem= is straight or ascending, even, very floccose scaly as the pileus is unrolled from it, scales same color as the pileus, the scales running transversely, being separated perhaps by the elongation of the stem so that numerous floccose rings are formed, showing the white flesh of the stem between. The upper part of the stem, that above the annulus, is white, but the upper part floccose.

This plant has been long known in Europe. There is a rather poor figure of it in Schaeffer Table 37, and a better one in Gillet Champignons de France, Hymenomycetes, =1=, opposite page 76, but a very good one in Bresadola Funghi Mangerecci e Velenosi, Tavel 18, 1899. A good figure is also given by Barla, Les Champignons des Alpes--Maritimes, Pl. 19, Figs. 1--6. The plant was first reported from America in the 41st Report, State Museum, N. Y., p. 82, 1888, under the name _Tricholoma peckii_ Howe, from the Catskill Mountains, N. Y. Figure 86 is from plants (No. 3991, C. U. herbarium) collected in the Blue Ridge mountains, at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. The European and American description both ascribe a bitter taste to the flesh of the pileus, and it is regarded as suspicious.

There does not seem to be a well formed annulus, the veil only being present in a rather young stage, as the inrolled margin of the pileus is unrolling from the surface of the stem. It seems to be more in the form of a universal veil resembling the veil of some of the lepiotas. It shows a relationship with _Tricholoma_ which possesses in typical forms a delicate veil present only in the young stage. Perhaps for this reason it was referred by Howe to _Tricholoma_ as an undescribed species when it was named _T. peckii_. If its affinities should prove to be with _Tricholoma_ rather than with _Armillaria_, it would then be known as _Tricholoma aurantium_.

TRICHOLOMA Fr.

In the genus _Tricholoma_ the volva and annulus are both wanting, the spores are white, and the gills are attached to the stem, but are more or less strongly notched or sinuate at the stem. Sometimes the notch is very slight. The stem is fleshy-fibrous, attached to the center of the pileus, and is usually short and stout. In some specimens when young there is a slight cobwebby veil which very soon disappears. The genus is a very large one. Some species are said to be poisonous and a few are known to be edible. Peck, 44th Report, N. Y. State Mus., pp. 38--64, describes 46 species.

=Tricholoma personatum= Fr. =Edible.=--This plant occurs during the autumn and persists up to the winter months. It grows on the ground in open places and in woods. The stem is short, usually 3--7 cm. long × 1--2 cm. in thickness, and the cap is from 5--10 cm. or more broad. The entire plant often has a lilac or purple tint.

The =pileus= is convex, expanded, moist, smooth, grayish to brownish tinged with lilac or purple, especially when young, fading out in age. When young the pileus is sometimes adorned with white mealy particles, and when old the margin may be more or less upturned and wavy. The =gills= are crowded, rounded next the stem, and nearly free but close to the stem, violet or lilac when young, changing to dull reddish brown when old. The =spores= when caught in mass are dull pink or salmon color. They measure 7--9 µ long. The =stem= is solid, fibrous, smooth, deep lilac when young and retaining the lilac color longer than the pileus. Sometimes the base is bulbous as in Fig. 87.

This plant is regarded by all writers as one of the best of the edible fungi. Sometimes the pileus is water soaked and then the flavor is not so fine. The position of the plant is regarded as doubtful by some because of the more or less russety pink color of the spores when seen in mass, and the ease with which the gills separate from the pileus, characters which show its relationship to the genus _Paxillus_.

=Tricholoma sejunctum= Sowerb. =Edible.=--This plant occurs on the ground in rather open woods during late summer and in the autumn. It is 8--12 cm. high, the cap 5--8 cm. broad, and the stem 10--15 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is convex to expanded, umbonate, viscid when moist, light yellow in color and streaked with dark threads in the surface. The flesh is white, and very fragile, differing in this respect from _T. equestre_, which it resembles in general form. The =gills= are broad, rather distant, broadly notched near the stem, and easily separating from the stem. The =stem= is solid, smooth and shining white. Figure 89 is from plants collected at Ithaca. It is said to be edible.

CLITOCYBE Fr.

The volva and annulus are wanting in this genus, and the spores are white. The stem is elastic, spongy within, the outside being elastic or fibrous, so that the fibres hold together well when the stem is twisted or broken, as in _Tricholoma_. The stem does not separate readily from the pileus, but the rather strong fibres are continuous with the substance of the pileus. The gills are narrowed toward the stem, joined squarely or decurrent (running down on the stem), very rarely some of them notched at the stem while others of the same plant are decurrent. In one species at least (_C. laccata_, by some placed in the genus _Laccaria_) the gills are often strongly notched or sinuate. The cap is usually plane, depressed, or funnel-shaped, many of the species having the latter form. The plants grow chiefly on the ground, though a number of species occur on dead wood. The genus contains a very large number of species. Peck describes ten species in the 23rd Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 76, et. seq., also 48th Report, p. 172, several species. Morgan, Jour. Cinn. Soc. Nat. Hist. =6=: 70--73, describes 12 species.

=Clitocybe candida= Bres. =Edible.=--This is one of the large species of the genus. It occurs in late autumn in Europe. It has been found on several occasions during late autumn at Ithaca, N. Y., on the ground in open woods, during wet weather. It occurs in clusters, though the specimens are usually not crowded. The stem is usually very short, 2--4 cm. long, and 2--3 cm. in thickness, while the cap is up to 10--18 cm. broad.

The =pileus= is sometimes regular, but often very irregular, and produced much more strongly on one side than on the other. It is convex, then expanded, the margin first incurved and finally wavy and often somewhat lobed. The color is white or light buff in age. The flesh is thick and white. The =gills= are white, stout, broad, somewhat decurrent, some adnate.

The taste is not unpleasant when raw, and when cooked it is agreeable. I have eaten it on several occasions. Figures 90, 91 are from plants (No. 4612 C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca.

=Clitocybe laccata= Scop. =Edible.=--This plant is a very common and widely distributed one, growing in woods, fields, roadsides and other waste places. It is usually quite easily recognized from the whitish scurfy cap, the pink or purplish gills, though the spores are white, from the gills being either decurrent, adnate, or more or less strongly notched, and the stem fibrous and whitish or of a pale pink color. When the plants are mature the pale red or pink gills appear mealy from being covered with the numerous white spores.

The =pileus= is thin, convex or later expanded, of a watery appearance, nearly smooth or scurfy or slightly squamulose. The =spores= are rounded, and possess spine-like processes, or are prominently roughened. In the warty character of the spores this species differs from most of the species of the genus _Clitocybe_, and some writers place it in a different genus erected to accommodate the species of _Clitocybe_ which have warty or spiny spores. The species with spiny spores are few. The genus in which this plant is placed by some is _Laccaria_, and then the plant is called _Laccaria laccata_. There are several other species of _Clitocybe_ which are common and which one is apt to run across often, especially in the woods. These are of the funnel form type, the cap being more or less funnel-shaped. =Clitocybe infundibuliformis= Schaeffer is one of these. The cap, when mature, is pale red or tan color, fading out in age. It is 5--7 cm. high, and the cap 2--4 cm. broad. It is considered delicious. =Clitocybe cyathiformis=, as its name indicates, is similar in form, and occurs in woods. The pileus is of a darker color, dark brown or smoky in color.

=Clitocybe illudens= Schw. =Not Edible.=--This species is distributed through the Eastern United States and sometimes is very abundant. It occurs from July to October about the bases of old stumps, dead trees, or from underground roots. It is one of the large species, the cap being 15--20 cm. broad, the stem 12--20 cm. long, and 8--12 mm. in thickness. It occurs in large clusters, several or many joined at their bases. From the rich saffron yellow color of all parts of the plant, and especially by its strong phosphorescence, so evident in the dark, it is an easy plant to recognize. Because of its phosphorescence it is sometimes called "Jack-my-lantern."

The =pileus= is convex, then expanded, and depressed, sometimes with a small umbo, smooth, often irregular or eccentric from its crowded habit, and in age the margin of the pileus is wavy. The flesh is thick at the center and thin toward the margin. In old plants the color becomes sordid or brownish. The =gills= are broad, not crowded, decurrent, some extending for a considerable distance down on the stem while others for a less distance. The =stem= is solid, firm, smooth, and tapers toward the base.

While the plant is not a dangerously poisonous one, it has occasioned serious cases of illness, acting as a violent emetic, and of course should be avoided. Its phosphorescence has often been observed. Another and much smaller plant, widely distributed in this country as well as Europe, and belonging to another genus, is also phosphorescent. It is _Panus stipticus_, a small white plant with a short lateral stem, growing on branches, stumps, trunks, etc. When freshly developed the phosphorescence is marked, but when the plants become old they often fail to show it.

=Clitocybe multiceps= Peck. =Edible.=--This plant is not uncommon during late summer and autumn. It usually grows in large tufts of 10 to 30 or more individuals. The caps in such large clusters are often irregular from pressure. The plants are 6--12 cm. high, the caps 5--10 cm. broad, and the stems 8--15 mm. in thickness. The =pileus= is white or gray, brownish gray or buff, smooth, dry, the flesh white. The =gills= are white, crowded, narrow at each end. The =spores= are smooth, globose, 5--7 µ in diameter. The stems are tough, fibrous, solid, tinged with the same color as cap. Fig. 93 is from plants (No. 5467, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, October 14, 1900.

COLLYBIA Fr.

In the genus _Collybia_ the annulus and volva are both wanting, the spores are white, the gills are free or notched, or sinuate. The stem is either entirely cartilaginous or has a cartilaginous rind, while the central portion of the stem is fibrous, or fleshy, stuffed or fistulose. The pileus is fleshy and when the plants are young the margin of the pileus is incurved or inrolled, i. e., it does not lie straight against the stem as in _Mycena_.

Many of the species of _Collybia_ are quite firm and will revive somewhat after drying when moistened, but they are not coriaceous as in _Marasmius_, nor do they revive so thoroughly. It is difficult, however, to draw the line between the two genera. Twenty-five of the New York species of Collybia are described by Peck in the 49th Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 32 et seq. Morgan describes twelve species in Jour. Cinn. Soc. Nat. Hist., 6: 70--73.

=Collybia radicata= Rehl. =Edible.=--This is one of the common and widely distributed species of the genus. It occurs on the ground in the woods or groves or borders of woods. It is quite easily recognized by the more or less flattened cap, the long striate stem somewhat enlarged below and then tapering off into a long, slender root-like process in the ground. It is from this "rooting" character that the plant gets its specific name. It is 10--20 cm. high, the cap 3--7 cm. broad, and the stem 4--8 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is fleshy, thin, convex to nearly plane, or even with the margin upturned in old plants, and the center sometimes umbonate. It is smooth, viscid when moist, and often with wrinkles on the surface which extend radially. The color varies from nearly white in some small specimens to grayish, grayish brown or umber. The flesh is white. The =gills= are white, broad, rather distant, adnexed, i. e., joined to the stem by the upper angle. The =spores= are elliptical and about 15 × 10 µ. The =stem= is the same color as the pileus though paler, and usually white above, tapers gradually above, is often striate or grooved, or sometimes only mealy. The long tapering "root" is often attached to some underground dead root. Fig. 94 is from plants (No. 5641, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, August, 1900.

=Collybia velutipes= Curt. =Edible.=--This is very common in woods or groves during the autumn, on dead limbs or trunks, or from dead places in living ones. The plants are very viscid, and the stem, except in young plants, is velvety hairy with dark hairs. Figure 95 is from plants (No. 5430, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, October, 1900.

=Collybia longipes= Bull., is a closely related plant. It is much larger, has a velvety, to hairy, stem, and a much longer root-like process to the stem. It has been sometimes considered to be merely a variety of _C. radicata_, and may be only a large form of that species. I have found a few specimens in the Adirondack mountains, and one in the Blue Ridge mountains, which seem to belong to this species.

=Collybia platyphylla= Fr. =Edible.=--This is a much larger and stouter plant than _Collybia radicata_, though it is not so tall as the larger specimens of that species. It occurs on rotten logs or on the ground about rotten logs and stumps in the woods from June to September. It is 8--12 cm. high, the cap 10--15 cm. broad, and the stem about 2 cm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is convex becoming expanded, plane, and even the margin upturned in age. It is whitish, varying to grayish brown or dark brown, the center sometimes darker than the margin, as is usual in many plants. The surface of the pileus is often marked in radiating streaks by fine dark hairs. The =gills= are white, very broad, adnexed, and usually deeply and broadly notched next the stem. In age they are more or less broken and cracked. The =spores= are white, elliptical, 7--10 × 6--7 µ.

The plant resembles somewhat certain species of _Tricholoma_ and care should be used in selecting it in order to avoid the suspected species of _Tricholoma_.

MYCENA Fr.

The genus _Mycena_ is closely related to _Collybia_. The plants are usually smaller, many of them being of small size, the cap is usually bell-shaped, rarely umbilicate, but what is a more important character the margin of the cap in the young stage is straight as it is applied against the stem, and not at first incurved as it is in _Collybia_, when the gills and margin of the pileus lie against the stem. The stem is cartilaginous as in _Collybia_, and is usually hollow or fistulose. The gills are not decurrent, or only slightly so by a tooth-like process. Some of the species are apt to be confused with certain species of _Omphalia_ in which the gills are but slightly decurrent, but in _Omphalia_ the pileus is umbilicate in such species, while in _Mycena_ it is blunt or umbonate. The spores are white. A large number of the plants grow on leaves and wood, few on the ground. Some of those which grow on leaves might be mistaken for species of _Marasmius_, but in _Marasmius_ the plants are of a tough consistency, and when dried will revive again if moistened with water.

Some of the plants have distinct odors, as alkaline, or the odor of radishes, and in collecting them notes should be made on all these characters which usually disappear in drying. A few of the plants exude a colored or watery juice when bruised, and should not be confounded with species of _Lactarius_.

=Mycena galericulata= Scop. =Edible.=--_Mycena galericulata_ grows on dead logs, stumps, branches, etc., in woods. It is a very common and very widely distributed species. It occurs from late spring to autumn. The plants are clustered, many growing in a compact group, the hairy bases closely joined and the stems usually ascending. The plants are from 5--12 cm. high, the caps from 1--3 cm. broad, and the slender stems 2--3 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is conic to bell-shaped, sometimes umbonate, striate to near the center, and in color some shade of brown or gray, but variable. The =gills= are decurrent by a tooth, not crowded, connected by veins over the interspaces, white or flesh colored. The slender =stems= are firm, hollow, and hairy at the base.

=Mycena polygramma= Bull.--This plant is very closely related to _M. galericulata_, and has the same habit. It might be easily mistaken for it. It is easily distinguished by its peculiar bright, shining, longitudinally striate to sulcate stem. It usually grows on wood, but does occur on the ground, when it often has a very long stem. In this condition it was described by Peck in the 23rd Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 81, as _Mycena prælonga_, from plants collected in a sphagnum moor during the month of June. This form was also collected at Ithaca several times during late autumn in a woods near Ithaca, in 1898. The plants are from 12--20 cm. high, the cap 1--2 cm. broad, and the stem 2--3 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is first nearly cylindrical, then conic, becoming bell-shaped and finally nearly expanded, when it is umbonate. It is smooth, striate on the margin, of a dark brown color with a leaden tint. The =gills= are narrow, white, adnate and slightly decurrent on the stem by a tooth. The very long =stem= is smooth, but marked with parallel grooves too fine to show in the photograph, firm, hollow, somewhat paler than the pileus, usually tinged with red, and hairy at the base. Figure 96 is from plants (No. 3113 C. U. herbarium), collected in a woods near Ithaca in damp places among leaves. A number of the specimens collected were attacked by a parasitic mucor of the genus _Spinellus_. Two species, _S. fusiger_ (Link.) van Tiegh., and _S. macrocarpus_ (Corda) Karst., were found, sometimes both on the same plant. The long-stalked sporangia bristle in all directions from the cap.

=Mycena pura= Pers.--This plant is quite common and very widely distributed, and occurs in woods and grassy open places, during late summer and in the autumn. The entire plant is nearly of a uniform color, and the color varies from rose, to rose purple, violet, or lilac. Plants from the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina were chiefly rose purple, very young plants of a much deeper color (auricula purple of Ridgeway), while those collected at Ithaca were violet. The plants vary from 5--8 cm. high, the cap 2--3 cm. broad, and the stem 2--4 mm. stout. The plants are scattered or somewhat clustered, sometimes occurring singly, and again many covering a small area of ground.

The =pileus= is thin, conic, bell-shaped to convex and nearly expanded, sometimes with a small umbo, smooth, and finely striate on the margin, in age the striæ sometimes rugulose from the upturning of the margin. Sometimes the pileus is rugose on the center. The =gills= vary from white to violet, rose, etc., they are adnate to sinuate, and in age sometimes become free by breaking away from the stem. They are broad in the middle, connected by vein-like elevations over the surface, and sometimes wavy and crenate on the edge, the edge of the gills sometimes white. The =spores= are white, oblong, 2.5--3.5 × 6--7 µ, smooth. The =basidia= are cylindrical, 20--25 × 3--4 µ, four-spored. There are a few =cystidia= in the hymenium, colorless, thin walled, clavate, the portion above the hymenium cylindrical, and 30--40 × 10--12 µ.

The =stem= is sometimes white when young, but later becomes of the same color as the pileus, often a lighter shade above. It is straight, or ascending, cylindrical, even, smooth, hollow, with a few white threads at the base.

Sometimes on drying the pileus becomes deeper in color than when fresh. The gills also become deeper in color in drying, though the edge remains white if white when fresh. Figure 97 is from plants (No. 3946, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in August, 1899. The plants are often considerably larger than shown in the figure.

=Mycena epipterygia= Scop.--This pretty little species is quite readily distinguished by the gray, conic or bell-shaped cap, the long, hollow, slender stem, and the viscid pellicle or skin which is quite easily peeled off from the stem or cap when moist. It grows in woods or grassy places, or among moss, etc., on the ground or on very rotten wood. The plants are from 5--10 cm. high, the cap 1--2 cm. broad, and the stem about 2 mm. in thickness. It is widely distributed in Europe, America, and other North temperate countries.

The =pileus= is viscid when moist, ovate to conic or campanulate, and later more or less expanded, obtuse, the margin striate, and sometimes minutely toothed. The usual color is grayish, but in age it often becomes reddish. The =gills= are decurrent by a small tooth, and quite variable in color, whitish, then gray, or tinged with blue or red.

The =stem= is very slender, flexuous, or straight, fistulose, tough, with soft hairs at the base, usually yellowish, sometimes the same color as the cap, and viscid like the cap when moist. Figure 98 is from plants (No. 4547, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca in August, 1899.

=Mycena vulgaris= Pers.--This common and pretty species is easily recognized by its smoky or grayish color, the umbilicate pileus and very slimy stem. It grows on decaying leaves, sticks, etc., in woods. It occurs in clusters. The plants are small, 3--5 cm. high, the cap 4--7 mm. broad, and the stem about 1.5 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is thin, bell-shaped, then convex, and depressed at the center, with a papilla usually in the center, finely striate on the margin, and slightly viscid. The =gills= are white, thin, and finally decurrent, so that from the form of the cap and the decurrent gills the plant has much the appearance of an _Omphalia_. The =stem= is very viscid, grayish in color, often rooting at the base, and with white fibrils at the base, becoming hollow.

Figure 99 is from plants collected in woods near Ithaca, during August, 1899.

=Mycena acicula= Schaeff.--This is one of the very small mycenas, and with the brilliant red pileus and yellow gills and stem it makes a very pretty object growing on leaves, twigs, or rotten wood in the forest. It occurs during summer and autumn. It is 2--5 cm. high, the cap 2--4 mm. broad, and the stem is thread-like.

The =pileus= is very thin, membranaceous, bell-shaped, then convex, when the pointed apex appears as a small umbo. It is smooth, striate on the margin, and of a rich vermilion or orange color. The =gills= are rounded at the stem and adnexed, rather broad in the middle, distant, yellow, the edge white, or sometimes the gills are entirely white. The =stem= is very slender, with a root-like process entering the rotten wood, smooth except the hairs on the root-like process, yellow.

Figure 100 is from plants (No. 2780, C. U. herbarium) collected in a woods near Ithaca. It has been found here several times.

=Mycena cyanothrix= Atkinson.--This is a very pretty plant growing on rotting wood in clusters, often two or three joined at the base, the base of the stem inserted in the rotten wood for 1--2 cm., and the base is clothed with blue, hair-like threads. The plants are 6--9 cm. high, the cap 1--2 cm. broad, and the stem not quite 2 mm. in diameter.

The =pileus= is ovate to convex, viscid when young. The color is bright blue when young, becoming pale and whitish in age, with a tendency to fuscous on the center. The cap is smooth and the margin finely striate. After the plants have dried the color is nearly uniform ochraceous or tawny. The =gills= are close, free, narrow, white, then grayish white, the edge finely toothed or fimbriate. The =spores= are globose, smooth, 6--9 µ. The =stem= is slender, hollow, faintly purple when young, becoming whitish or flesh color, flexuous, or nearly straight, even, often two united at the base into a root-like extension which enters the rotten wood. The base of the stem is covered with deep blue mycelium which retains its color in age, but disappears on drying after a time. Figure 101 is from plants (No. 2382, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, in woods, June 16, 1898.

=Mycena hæmatopa= Pers.--This is one of the species of _Mycena_ with a red juice which exudes in drops where wounds occur on the plant. It is easily recognized by its dense cespitose habit, the deep blood red juice, the hollow stem, and the crenate or denticulate sterile margin of the cap. Numbers of the plant occur usually in a single cluster, and their bases are closely joined and hairy. The stems are more or less ascending according to the position of the plant on the wood. The plants are 5--10 cm. high, the cap is 1--2.5 cm. broad, and the stem 2--3 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is conic, then bell-shaped, and as the margin of the cap expands more appears umbonate, obtuse, smooth, even or somewhat striate on the margin. The color varies from whitish to flesh color, or dull red, and appears more or less saturated with a red juice. The thin margin extends a short distance beyond the ends of the gills, and the margin is then beautifully crenate. The =gills= are adnate, and often extend down on the stem a short distance by a little tooth. The =stem= is firm, sometimes smooth, sometimes with minute hairs, at the base with long hairs, hollow, in color the same as that of the pileus.

The color varies somewhat, being darker in some plants than in others. In some plants the juice is more abundant and they bleed profusely when wounded, while in other cases there is but little of the juice, sometimes wounds only showing a change in color to a deep red without any free drops exuding. Figure 102 is from plants collected at Ithaca, in August, 1899. It is widely distributed in Europe and North America.

=Mycena succosa= Pk., another species of _Mycena_ with a juice, occurs on very rotten wood in the woods. It is a small plant, dull white at first, but soon spotted with black, and turning black in handling or where bruised, and when dried. Wounds exude a "serum-like juice," and the wounds soon become black. It was described by Peck under _Collybia_ in the 25th Report, p. 74.

OMPHALIA Fr.

The genus _Omphalia_ is closely related to _Mycena_ and _Collybia_. It differs from these mainly in the decurrent gills. In the small species of _Mycena_ where the gills are slightly decurrent, the pileus is not umbilicate as it is in corresponding species of _Omphalia_. In some of the species of _Omphalia_ the pileus is not umbilicate, but here the gills are plainly decurrent. The stem is cartilaginous.

=Omphalia campanella= Batsch.--One of the most common and widely distributed species of the genus is the little bell-omphalia, _Omphalia campanella_. It occurs throughout the summer and autumn on dead or rotten logs, stumps, branches, etc., in woods. It is often clustered, large numbers covering a considerable surface of the decaying log. It is 1--3 cm. high, the cap 8--20 mm. broad, and the stem very slender.

The =pileus= is convex, umbilicate, faintly striate, dull reddish yellow, in damp weather with a watery appearance. The =gills= are narrow, yellow, connected by veins, strongly curved because of the form of the pileus, and then being decurrent on the stem. The =stem= is slender, often ascending, brownish hairy toward the base, and paler above.

=Omphalia epichysium= Pers.--This plant occurs during the autumn in woods, growing usually on much decayed wood, or sometimes apparently on the ground. The smoky, or dull gray color of the entire plant, the depressed or funnel-shaped pileus, and short, slender stem serve to distinguish it. The cap is 2--4 cm. broad, the plant is 3--5 cm. high, and the stem 2--4 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is convex, becoming expanded, umbilicate or depressed at the center or nearly funnel-shaped, smooth, smoky or gray with a saturated watery appearance, light gray or nearly white when dry. The =gills= are narrow, crowded, or a little decurrent. The slender =stem= is smooth, hollow, equal. Figure 104 is from plants (No. 3373, C. U. herbarium) collected in woods near Ithaca, N. Y., in the autumn of 1899.

PLEUROTUS Fr.

The genus _Pleurotus_ is usually recognized without difficulty among the fleshy, white-spored agarics, because of the eccentric (not quite in the center of the pileus) or lateral stem, or by the pileus being attached at one side in a more or less shelving position, or in some species where the upper side of the pileus lies directly against the wood on which the plant is growing, and is then said to be _resupinate_. The gills are either decurrent (extending downward) on the stem, or in some species they are rounded or notched at the junction with the stem. There is no annulus, though sometimes a veil, and the genus resembles both _Tricholoma_ and _Clitocybe_, except for the position of the stem on the pileus. In _Tricholoma_ and _Clitocybe_ the stem is usually attached at the center, and the majority of the species grow on the ground, while the species of _Pleurotus_ are especially characterized by growing on wood. Some species, at least, appear to grow from the ground, as in Pleurotus petaloides, which is sometimes found growing on buried roots or portions of decayed stumps which no longer show above ground. On the other hand species of _Clitocybe_, as in C. candida (Fig. 91), often have an eccentric stem. This presents to us one of the many difficulties which students, especially beginners, of this group of fungi meet, and also suggests how unsatisfactory any arrangement of genera as yet proposed is.

=Pleurotus ulmarius= Bull. =Edible.=--The elm pleurotus is so called because it is often found growing on dead elm branches or trunks, or from wounds in living trees, but it is not confined to the elm. It is a large species, easily distinguished from the oyster agaric and the other related species by its long stem attached usually near the center of the cap, and by the gills being rounded or notched at their inner extremity. The cap is 5--12 cm. broad, the stem 5--10 cm. long, and 1--2 cm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is convex, the margin incurved, then nearly expanded, smooth, firm, white or whitish, or with shades of yellow or brown on the center, and the flesh is white. The =gills= are broad, rather distant, sinuate, white or nearly so. The =spores= are globose, 5--8 µ in diameter. The =stem= is firm, eccentric, usually curved because of its lateral attachment on the side of the tree, and the horizontal position of the pileus.

The elm pleurotus has been long known as an edible fungus, and is regarded as an excellent one for food on account of its flavor and because of its large size. It occurs abundantly during the late autumn, and at this season of the year is usually well protected from the attacks of insects. It occurs in the woods, or fields, more frequently on dead trees. On shade trees which have been severely pruned, and are nearly or quite dead, it sometimes appears at the wounds, where limbs have been removed, in great abundance. In the plants shown in Fig. 105 the stems are strongly curved because the weight of the cap bore the plant downward. Sometimes when the plant is growing directly on the upper side of a branch or log, the stem may be central.

=Pleurotus ostreatus= Jacq. =Edible.=--This plant is known as the oyster agaric, because the form of the plant sometimes suggests the outline of an oyster shell, as is seen in Fig. 107. It grows on dead trunks and branches, usually in crowded clusters, the caps often overlapping or imbricated. It is large, measuring 8--20 cm. or more broad.

The =pileus= is elongated and attached at one side by being sessile, or it is narrowed into a very short stem. It is broadest at the outer extremity, where it becomes quite thin toward the margin. It is more or less curved in outline as seen from the side, being depressed usually on the upper side near the point of attachment, and toward the margin convex and the margin incurved. The color is white, light gray, buff or dark gray, often becoming yellowish on drying. The =gills= are white, broad, not much crowded, and run down on the stem in long elevated lines resembling veins, which anastomose often in a reticulate fashion. The =spores= are white, oblong, 7--10 µ long. The =stem= when present is very short, and often hairy at the base.

The oyster agaric has long been known as an edible mushroom, but it is not ranked among the best, because, like most _Pleuroti_, it is rather tough, especially in age. It is well to select young plants. Figure 107 is from plants (No. 2097, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, N. Y.

=Pleurotus sapidus= Kalchb. =Edible.=--This plant usually grows in large clusters from dead trunks or branches or from dead portions of living trees. It grows on a number of different kinds of trees. The stems are often joined at the base, but sometimes the plants are scattered over a portion of the branch or trunk. The cap is from 5--10 cm. broad. The plants occur from June to November.

The =pileus= is convex, the margin incurved when young, and more or less depressed in age, smooth, broadened toward the margin and tapering into the short stem, which is very short in some cases and elongated in others. Often the caps are quite irregular and the margin wavy, especially when old. It is quite firm, but the margin splits quite readily on being handled. The color varies greatly, white, yellowish, gray, or brownish and lilac tints. The flesh is white. The =stems= are usually attached to the pileus, at or near one edge. The =gills= are white, broad, not at all crowded, and extend down on the stem as in the oyster agaric. They are white or whitish, and as in the other related species are sometimes cracked, due probably to the tension brought to bear because of the expanding pileus. The =spores= are tinged with lilac when seen in mass, as when caught on paper. The color seems to be intensified after the spores have lain on the paper for a day or two.

It is very difficult to distinguish this species from the oyster agaric. The color of the spores seems to be the only distinguishing character, and this may not be constant. Peck suggests that it may only be a variety of the oyster agaric. I have found the plant growing from a dead spot on the base of a living oak tree. There was for several years a drive near this tree, and the wheels of vehicles cut into the roots of the tree on this side, and probably so injured it as to kill a portion and give this fungus and another one (_Polystictus pergamenus_) a start, and later they have slowly encroached on the side of the tree.

Figure 108 represents the plant (No. 3307, C. U. herbarium) from a dead maple trunk in a woods near Ithaca, collected during the autumn of 1899. This plant compares favorably with the oyster agaric as an edible one. Neither of these plants preserve as well as the elm pleurotus.

=Pleurotus dryinus= Pers. =Edible.=--_Pleurotus dryinus_ represents a section of the genus in which the species are provided with a veil when young, but which disappears as the pileus expands. This species has been long known in Europe on trunks of oak, ash, willow, etc., and occurs there from September to October. It was collected near Ithaca, N. Y., in a beech woods along Six-mile creek, on October 24th, 1898, growing from a decayed knothole in the trunk of a living hickory tree, and again in a few days from a decayed stump. The pileus varies from 5--10 cm. broad, and the lateral or eccentric stem is 2--12 cm. long by 1--2 cm. in thickness, the length of the stem depending on the depth of the insertion of the stem in a hollow portion of the trunk. The plant is white or whitish, and the substance is quite firm, drying quite hard.

The =pileus= is convex to expanded, more or less depressed in the center, the margin involute, and the surface at first floccose, becoming in age floccose scaly, since the surface breaks up into triangular scales more prominent in and near the center, smaller and inconspicuous toward the margin. The prevailing color is white, but in age the scales become cream color or buff (in European plants said to become fuscous). The pileus is either definitely lateral (Fig. 109) or eccentric when the stem is attached near the center as in Fig. 110. The =gills= are white, becoming tinged with yellow in age, decurrent (running down on the stem) in striæ for short distances, 4--5 mm. broad, not crowded. The =stem= is nearly central (Fig. 110), or definitely lateral (Fig. 109), the length varying according to conditions as stated above. It is firm, tough, fibrous. The =veil= is prominent in young and medium plants, floccose, tearing irregularly as the pileus expands.

Figure 110 is from plants (No. 2478a C. U. herbarium) growing from knothole in living hickory tree, and Fig. 109 from plants (No. 2478b) growing on a dead stump, near Ithaca.

According to the descriptions of _P. dryinus_ as given by Persoon, and as followed by Fries and most later writers, the pileus is definitely lateral, and more or less dimidiate, while in _P. corticatus_ Fr., the pileus is entire and the stem rather long and eccentric. Stevenson suggests (p. 166) that corticatus is perhaps too closely allied to dryinus. The plants in our Fig. 110 agree in all respects with _P. corticatus_, except that possibly the lamellæ do not anastomose on the stem as they are said to in _corticatus_. According to the usual descriptions _corticatus_ is given as the larger species, while Fig. 109 of our plant, possessing the typical characters of _dryinus_, is the larger. The form of the pileus, the length and position of the stem, depends, as we know, to a large extent on the position of the plant on the tree. When growing from the upper side, so that there is room above for the expansion of the cap, the pileus is apt to be more regular, just as is the case in _Pleurotus ulmarius_, and the stem more nearly central. When the plant grows from a hollow place in the trunk as those shown in Fig. 110 did, then there is an opportunity for them to grow more or less erect, at least until they emerge from the hollow, and then the pileus is more nearly equal in its expansion and the stem is longer. Berkeley describes specimens of P. dryinus with long stems growing from a hollow in an ash, and Stevenson (p. 167) reports the same condition.

=Pleurotus sulfureoides= Pk.--This rare species, first collected in the Catskill Mountains 1869, and described by Peck in the 23rd Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 86, 1870, was found by me on two different occasions at Ithaca, N. Y., during the autumn of 1898, on rotting logs, Ithaca Flats, and again in Enfield Gorge, six miles from Ithaca. The plants are from 5--8 cm. high, the cap 3--5 cm. broad, and the stem 5--7 mm. in thickness, and the entire plant is of a dull, or pale, yellow.

The =pileus= is nearly regular, fleshy, thin toward the margin, convex, umbonate, smooth or with a few small scales. The =gills= are rather crowded, broad, rounded or notched at the stem, pale yellow. The =spores= are elliptical, 7--9 × 5--6 µ. The =stem= is ascending and curved, nearly or quite central in some specimens in its attachment to the pileus, whitish or yellowish, mealy or slightly tomentose at the apex.

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 lamellæ. They are 70--80 × 10--12 µ. 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 laminæ 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 × 5--6 µ.

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 × 5--6 µ, 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 × 5--7 µ. 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 × 5--6 µ. 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 × 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 lamellæ in _L. corrugis_ is due to the number of brown cystidia or setæ, in the hymenium, which project above the surface of the gills, and they are especially abundant on the edge of the gills. These setæ are long fusoid, 80--120 × 10--12 µ. 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 setæ or to the variation in their color. Where the cystidia are fewer in number or are lighter in color the lamellæ are lighter colored. Typical forms of _Lactarius volemus_ have similar setæ, 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 setæ 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 µ. 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 µ. 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 lamellæ 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 lamellæ 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 × 4--5 µ. 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 µ. 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 lamellæ, 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 × 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 µ. 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 µ 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 cohærens= (Fr.) Bres. (_Mycena cohærens_ 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 _cohærens_ 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 µ long. The =spores= are oval, white, small, 6 × 3 µ. 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 setæ 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 lamellæ 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 × 2--3 µ. 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.