4. HYGROPHORUS MINIATUS, 159

HYGROPH´ORUS Fr. _Gr._—moist; _Gr._—to bear. (Plate XXXVIII.) [Illustration: HYGROPHORUS PRATENSIS.] =Pileus= regular or undulated and wavy, often viscid or moist. =Flesh= of the pileus continuous with that of the stem and descending as a trama into the gills. =Gills= adnate or adnexed, more or less decurrent, _waxy_, often thick and forked, _edge always thin and sharp_, often branched. On the ground. Many species are brightly colored. =Spores= white. This genus differs from the preceding genera in the manifest trama, the substance of which is similar to that of the pileus; from Lactarius and Russula by the trama not being vesicular, but somewhat floccose with granules intermixed; from Cantharellus, its nearest ally, by the sharp edge of the gills. The Cortinarii, Paxilli and Gomphidii are at once distinguished from it by their colored spores and the changing color of their gills, as well as by other marks. From all the other genera of Agaricini it is distinguished by a mark peculiar to itself, viz., by the hymeneal stratum of the gills changing into a waxy mass, which is at length removable from the trama. This altogether singular character is specially remarkable in H. caprinus, coccineus, murinaceus, etc. Hence the gills seem full of watery juice, but they do not become milky like those of the Lactarii. _Fries._ From the description by Fries, the author of the genus, it is manifest that one has to wait the ripening of the fungus before the peculiar characteristic mark of the genus, _i. e._—gills turning into a waxy mass, easily removable from the cap—can be observed. Many of the species are difficult to determine when fresh. Nevertheless, there is an indescribable, watery, waxy, translucent appearance about the gills which catches the eye of the expert, and is soon learned by the novice. The white spores readily separate the genus from kindred shapes in the colored-spored genera. So far as tested none of the species is poisonous. One English species is fetid. It is probable that they are all edible, varying in quality only. Fries well, and is superior in croquettes and patties. ANALYSIS OF TRIBES. LIMACIUM (_limax_, a slug). Page 148. Universal veil viscid, with occasionally a floccose partial one, which is annular or marginal. * White or becoming yellowish. ** Reddish. *** Tawny or yellow. **** Olivaceous-umber. ***** Dingy cinereous or livid. None known to be edible. CAMAROPHYLLUS (_Gr._—a vault; a leaf). Page 152. (From the arched shape of the gills.) Veil none. Stem even, smooth or fibrillose, not rough with points. Pileus firm, opaque, moist after rain, not viscid. Gills distant, arcuate. * Gills deeply and at length obconically decurrent. ** Gills ventricose, sinuately arcuate or plano-adnate. HYGROCYBE (_Gr_—moist; _Gr_—the head). Page 155. Veil none. Whole fungus thin, watery, succulent, fragile. Pileus when moist viscid, shining when dry, rarely floccoso-scaly. Stem hollow, soft, without dots. Gills soft. Most of the species are brightly colored and shining. This tribe is the type of the genus. * Gills decurrent. ** Gills adnexed, somewhat separating. LIMA´CIUM. * _White or yellowish-white._ =H. chry´sodon= Fr. _Gr_—gold; a tooth. From tooth-like squamules. =Pileus= 2–3 in. broad, _white_, shining when dry, but commonly yellowish with minute adpressed squamules at the disk, light yellow-_flocculose at the involute margin_, fleshy, convex then plane, obtuse, viscid. =Flesh= white, sometimes reddish. =Stem= 2–3 in. long, about ½ in. thick, stuffed, soft, somewhat equal (sometimes, however, irregularly shaped or thickened at the base), white, with minute _light yellow squamules_, which are more crowded and arranged in the form of a ring _toward the apex_. =Gills= decurrent, distant, 3 lines broad, thin, white, somewhat yellowish at the edge, sometimes crisped. Odor not unpleasant. There is a manifest _veil_, not woven into a continuous ring, but _collected in the form of floccose squamules at the apex of the stem and the margin of the pileus_. Var. leucodon with white squamules. _Fries._ In woods. The lamellæ are said to be crisped, and when young, to have the edge yellow-floccose; but I have seen no such specimens. _Peck_, 23d Rep. N.Y. State Bot. =Spores= 8×4µ _Cooke_. West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. _McIlvaine._ A pleasant, excellent species, whose rarity is regrettable. =H. ebur´neus= Bull. Fr.—_ebur_, ivory. Wholly _shining white_. =Pileus= fleshy, sometimes thin, sometimes somewhat compact, convexo-plane, somewhat repand, even, _very glutinous_ in rainy weather, _margin soon naked_. =Stem= sometimes short, sometimes elongated, stuffed then hollow, unequal, _glutinous_ like the pileus, _rough at the apex with dots in the form of squamules_. =Gills= decurrent, distant, veined at the base, 3–4 lines broad, tense and straight, quite entire. _Fries._ Odor mild, not unpleasant. Very changeable. The veil is absent, unless the _very plentiful gluten_ which envelops the stem be regarded as a universal veil; _margin of the young pileus_ involute, only at the first _pubescent_, _soon naked_. The stem is soft internally, at length hollow, attenuated toward the base. In woods and pastures. Frequent. September to October. _Stevenson._ The whole plant is pure white when fresh, but in drying the gills assume a cinnamon-brown hue. _Peck_, Rep. 26. =Spores= 6×5µ _Cooke_; 4×5µ _W.G.S._; 5–6µ _K._; 6×4µ _C.B.P._ A common and wide-spread species frequenting woods and pastures. Edible. _Curtis._ The author ate it in West Virginia, in 1882; at Devon, Pa., 1887; Haddonfield, N.J., 1890. It is well flavored but in texture is not of first quality. =H. pena´rius= Fr.—_penus_, food. =Pileus= _tan-color, opaque_, fleshy, especially when young, at first umbonate, then very obtuse, hemispherical then flattened, even, smooth, _commonly dry_, margin at first involute, exceeding the gills, undulated when flattened. =Flesh= thick, hard, whitish, unchangeable. =Stem= curt, 1½ in. or more long, about ½ in. thick at the apex, _solid, compact_, hard, _attenuated at the base into a spindle-shaped root_, ventricose to the neck, again attenuated upward or wholly fusiform-attenuated, pale-white, smeared with tenacious, easily dried slime, _warty_. =Flesh= firm, but _externally more rigid_, cuticle somewhat fragile. =Veil= not conspicuous. =Gills= adnato-decurrent, acute behind, _distant, thick_, 3–4 lines broad, veined, tan inclining to pale. _Fries._ Odor pleasant, taste sweet. The fusiform root is as long as the stem. In mixed woods. _Stevenson._ =Spores= 7–8×4–5µ. Edible. _Cooke_. Large specimens occurred in mixed woods, in November, 1898, at Mt. Gretna. The caps varied from 1½-5 in. across. The color was white, tinged with yellow, much lighter than described. The caps look coarse and the stems are not inviting; but the caps have a pleasant odor. When stewed for twenty minutes they are meaty and tasty. ** _Reddish._ =H. erubes´cens= Fr.—_erubesco_, to become red. =Pileus= 2–4 in. and more broad, white becoming everywhere red, fleshy, gibbous then convexo-plane, viscid, _adpressedly dotted with squamules or becoming smooth_, sometimes wholly compact, sometimes thin towards the _margin which is at the first naked_. =Flesh= firm, white. =Stem= sometimes short, robust, 2 in. long, 1 in. thick and attenuated upward, sometimes elongated, 4 in. long, equal or attenuated at the base, _solid_, flexuous, _with red fibrils, dotted with red upward_. =Gills= decurrent, distant, _soft, white, with red spots_. _Fries._ Veil none. The ground color is white, as it is also internally, but it everywhere becomes red and the pileus often rosy blood-color. Handsome, growing in troops, commonly forming large lax circles. In pine woods. _Stevenson._ =Spores= ellipsoid, very obtuse at both ends, 8–10×4–5µ _K_.; 8×4µ _Cooke_. Edible. _Cooke._ *** _Tawny or yellow._ =H. ni´tidus= B. and Rav.—_shining_. =Pileus= thin, fleshy, convex, broadly umbilicate, smooth, shining, viscid, pale yellow with the margin striatulate when moist, nearly white when dry. =Gills= arcuate, decurrent, yellow. =Stem= slender, brittle, smooth, viscid, hollow, yellow. =Flesh= yellow. =Height= 2–4 in., breadth of =Pileus= 8–12 lines. =Stem= 1–2 lines thick. Swamps. Sandlake. August. The cavity of the stem is very small. _Peck_, 23d Rep. N.Y. State Bot. Found in many states and places, usually on moist ground beside streams, or spring heads. It sometimes parades itself in irregular processions, at others in sparse patches. It is delicate in flavor, and tender cooked. **** _Olivaceous-umber._ =H. limaci´nus= Fr.—_limax_, a slug. =Pileus= 1½-2½ in. broad, _disk umber then sooty_, paler round the margin, fleshy, convex then flattened, obtuse, smooth, viscid. =Flesh= rather firm, white. =Stem= 2–3 in. long, ½ in. thick, _solid_, firm, ventricose, _sticky_, flocculose, fibrilloso-striate, _roughened with squamules at the apex_. =Gills= adnate, then decurrent, somewhat distant, thin, _white inclining to ash-color_. _Fries._ Veil entirely viscous, not floccose. In woods among damp leaves. _Stevenson._ =Spores= 12×4µ _Cooke_. New York, _Peck_, Rep. 34. Thin woods and open places. Reported edible Bulletin No. 5, 1897, Boston Mycological Club. =H. hypoth´ejus= Fr. _Gr._—under; _Gr_—sulphur (under gluten). =Pileus= 1–2 in. broad, _at first smeared with olivaceous gluten_, ash-colored, when the gluten disappears, becoming pale and yellowish, orange or rarely (when rotting) rufescent, fleshy, _thin_, convex then depressed, _obtuse_, even, somewhat streaked. =Flesh= thin, white then becoming light yellow. =Stem= 2–4 in. long, 2–3 lines and more thick, _stuffed_, equal, _even, viscous_, but rarely spotted with the veil, at length hollow. Partial _veil_ floccose, at the first _cortinate and annular, soon fugacious_. =Gills= decurrent, _distant_, distinct, at first pallid (even whitish) soon _yellow_, sometimes flesh-color. _Fries._ Very protean, changeable in color and variable in size. Stem not scabrous. There is no trace of the veil when the plant is full grown. Appearing after the first cold autumn nights, and lasting even till snow. In pine woods. Frequent. _Stevenson._ =Spores= 10×6µ _Cooke_; 12×4µ _W.G.S._ Hollis Webster, in Bulletin No. 5, 1897, Boston Mycological Club, writes: “H. hypothejus Fr., when dried, is crisp and nutty, and very good to carry in the pocket for occasional nibble.” II.—CAMAROPHYL´LUS. * _Gills deeply decurrent, etc._ =H. praten´sis= Fr.—_pratum_, a meadow. (Plate XXXVII, figs. 1, 2, 3, p.