Chapter XX (2)

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.