IO WT T E: 
^ E 
1900] Webster, — Tricholoma portentosum 245 
toadstool also with a sticky cap, but with yellow gills, rather conspic- 
uous and distinguished looking, as the name implies, which has like- 
wise become favorably known to discerning mycophagists. Notes 
on it may be found in RHODORA I: 57. 
With the species just mentioned 7. portentosum is placed in the 
group Limacina, which includes all the members of the genus which 
have a viscid cap. This characteristic is of great significance in this 
genus, yet apt to be overlooked by a novice in such matters, partly 
from inattention, and no doubt, also, because it is not always apparent 
in dry weather. On this point the warning, uttered by Fries (Hymen- 
omycetes Europzi, p. 47), is worth repeating: ‘Those without ex- 
perience should be careful not to neglect the very natural sub-divisions 
of this group, or to imagine that the term peus viscid, though the 
viscidity may disappear in dry weather, is of slight importance; there 
is no single mark more essential than this, for it depends upon the 
original structure of the pellicle of the pileus." 
To the neglect of this characteristic is probably due the fact that 
T. portentosum is usually confounded with 7: ferreum, though the lat- 
ter species has a pileus that is always dry. In consequence of this 
confusion, it is probable that the range of the species is much greater 
than might be supposed from its recorded distribution. Fries himself, 
as late as the time of publication of his Icones, twenty-five years ago, 
after he had observed the species for fifty years, expressed his sur- 
prise that such a “common and thoroughly distinct species” had 
escaped the notice of earlier authors. 
How widely the species is distributed in the country is not at pres- 
ent known. It has been found in New Hampshire as well as in Mas- 
sachusetts, and I think also in Maine and in Connecticut. Probably 
it will be found throughout New England. Yet Mr. Peck, in a recent 
letter to the writer, says that he has not found it in New York. 
In Fries's description [Icones 1: 21.] the following points are noted, 
which are equally true of the fungus as found with us. 
** Solitary or gregarious, or even more rarely forming dense clusters, 
odorless, taste mild. Stem remarkably fleshy-fibrous throughout, sub- 
equal, naked, but streaked with fibrils, white. Pileus fleshy, thin in 
comparison with the stocky stem, at first convex, then plane, somewhat 
umbonate, unequal and repand, viscid, streaked with dark innate 
fibrils, but even, glabrous, commonly smoky in color, but varying to 
violaceous, livid, and in old age becoming pale; margin always naked, 
thin. Flesh white, slightly inclining to yellowish, fragile. Lamellz 
