[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate F.

THE NORRIS PETERS CO., PHOTO-LITHO., WASHINGTON, D. C.]

PLATE F.

Plate F ill.u.s.trates by section or otherwise various forms of these gill-like processes characteristic of species, considered either with regard to marginal outline or position of their posterior extremity:

Fig. 1. Gills distant.

Fig. 2. Gills crowded.

Fig. 3. Gills flexuose.

Fig. 4. Gills unequal.

Fig. 5. Bifurcated.

Fig. 6. Anastomosing veins.

Fig. 6a. Sectional view.

Fig. 7. Gills narrow.

Fig. 8. Gills broad.

Fig. 9. Lanceolate.

Fig. 10. Ventricose.

Fig. 11. Anteriorly rounded.

Fig. 12. Posteriorly rounded.

Fig. 13. Emarginate.

Fig. 14. Emarginate and denticulate.

Copyright, 1897, by Thomas Taylor, M. D., and A. R. Taylor.

AGARICINI.

_Subgenus Hypholoma_. Hymenoph.o.r.e continuous with the stem, veil woven into a fugacious web, which adheres to the margin of the pileus. Gills adnate or sinuate; spores brownish purple, sometimes intense purple, almost black.--M. C. Cooke.

This subgenus has been divided into the following five groups:

1. Fasciculares.--Pileus smooth, tough, bright colored when dry, not hygrophanous. Examples, Ag. (Hypholoma) _sublateritius_ and Ag.

(Hypholoma) _fascicularis_.

2. Viscidi.--Pileus naked, viscid. Example, Ag. (Hypholoma) _oedipus_.

3. Velutini.--Pileus silky, with innate fibrils. Example, Ag.

(Hypholoma) _velutinus_.

4. Flocculosi.--Pileus clad with floccose superficial evanescent scales.

Example, Ag. (Hypholoma) _cascus_.

5. Appendiculati.--Pileus smooth and hygrophanous. Example, Ag.

(Hypholoma) _Candollia.n.u.s_.

The species are not numerous. They are generally either gregarious or caespitose, and are often found in cl.u.s.ters upon tree stumps, or springing from the buried roots of stumps. A few species are found in short gra.s.s in open places; but few are recorded as edible, and one, H.

_fascicularis_, has been cla.s.sed as deleterious by Berkeley, Cooke, and some of the earlier authors. I find, however, no authenticated case of poisoning by this species, and, indeed, have as yet found no species of Hypholoma which could be satisfactorily identified as H. fascicularis.

The few species of Hypholoma which I have tested have been palatable, and one or two are of very delicate flavor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate VIII.

EDIBLE Agaricus (Hypholoma) _sublateritius_ Fries (Hypholoma sublatertium) "Brick Top."

Group from Seabrooke Woods, Md.

T. Taylor, del.]

PLATE VIII.

=Ag. (Hypholoma) sublateritius= Schaeff. "_Red Tuft_." (=Hypholoma sublateritium=) "_The Brick Top_."

EDIBLE.

The cap of this species is fleshy and obtuse, convexo-plane, sometimes showing a superficial whitish cloudiness upon the margin coming from the veil, which soon disappears, leaving it smooth and dry; color tawny brick red, with pale straw margin; flesh compact and whitish, turning yellow when wilted. Stem stuffed and fibrillose, tapering downward. Near its attachment to the cap the color is very light yellow; lower down and towards the root it is covered with patches and lines of burnt sienna color. It bears no distinct ring. In very young plants the filmy veil is sometimes perceived, reaching from the margin of the cap to the stem.

This disappears as the cap expands, sometimes leaving the stem obscurely annulate. Gills adnate in full-grown specimens, slightly decurrent, somewhat crowded, dingy white or cinereous, turning to dark olive, never yellow; in old or wilted specimens changing to a dark brown. In old specimens the cap is a reddish brown and the gills are sometimes stained with the purplish brown of the spores.

This is a very common species and very abundant in pine and oak woods. I have seen an oak stump in Prince George's County, Md., measuring from 3 to 4 feet in height, literally covered with mushrooms of this species.

This mushroom has been recorded as suspicious by some writers, probably owing to its slightly bitter taste, but I have thoroughly tested its edible qualities, both uncooked and prepared in various ways for the table, using the caps only. It keeps well when dried, and when ground into powder, with the addition of boiling water and a little pepper and salt, makes a very pleasant and nutritious beverage. It is most abundant in the early autumn, and is gathered in this lat.i.tude well into the winter, even when the snow is on the ground.

Our American plant is less heavy and more graceful in aspect than the same species in England, as figured in English works, but the general characteristics are the same.

Ag. (Hypholoma) _fascicularis_ Hudson, recorded as deleterious, is figured in "Cooke's Ill.u.s.trations."

Dr. Berkeley thus distinguishes these two species from each other. Cap of _sublateritius_ is obtuse, discoid; that of _fascicularis_, sub.u.mbonate. Flesh of the former, compact, dingy-white; that of the latter, yellow. Stem in _sublateritius_ is "stuffed," attenuated downwards, ferruginous; stem of _fascicularis_ hollow, thin, flexuose.

The gills in both species are adnate, crowded; but in _fascicularis_ they are also linear and deliquescent, and are _yellow_ in color.

NOTE.--In the Friesian arrangement of the genera of the order Agaricini, which is adopted by M. C. Cooke, Hypholoma finds place as a subgenus of the genus Agaricus, spore series Pratelli. Saccardo in his Sylloge elevates Hypholoma to the rank of a separate genus and places it in his spore series Melanosporae.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate IX.

EDIBLE Agaricus (Hypholoma) _Candollia.n.u.s_, Fries., variety _incertus_ Peck Figured from specimens collected in the District of Columbia T. Taylor, del.]

PLATE IX.

=Agaricus (Hypholoma) incertus= Peck. (_Hypholoma incertum_.)

EDIBLE.

Cap fleshy but fragile, smooth and hygrophanous, moist; at first convex, then expanding; color creamy white. Gills adnate, narrow, crowded, whitish in young specimens, turning to a pinkish dun color, later to a rosy cinnamon, sometimes showing when mature a slightly purplish tint.

Stem smooth, slender, long and hollow, with slight striations near the apex, white. Specimens occur in which the stem is obscurely annulate arising from the attachment to it of fragments of the veil, but usually it is ringless.

The typical species of Hypholoma have the fleshy part of the cap confluent with the stem, but in H. _incertum_ the stem is not confluent and is easily separated from the cap as in the Lepiotas. This mushroom was first recorded by Peck in his early reports as the variety "_incertus_" of the species Agaricus (Hypholoma) Candollia.n.u.s, but has since been recorded by Saccardo as a distinct species, Hypholoma incertum.

Two species of Hypholoma have the same habit and sufficiently resemble _incertum_ to be taken for it, if not carefully examined as to points of difference. These are H. _Candollianum_, named in honor of A. De Candolle, and H. _appendiculatum_. In the first named of these two species the cap is whitish, the gills at first violet in color, changing to dark cinnamon brown. In H. appendiculatum the pileus is rugose when dry, and sprinkled with atoms. It is darker in color than that of H.

incertum; Cooke says tawny or pale ochre; Ma.s.see says bay, then tawny.

The gills are sub-adnate, in color resembling those of H. incertum; stem slender, smooth, and white.