1912] Sherman,— Morels in October in Massachusetts 53 
MORELS IN OCTOBER IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
JuLIA WINGATE SHERMAN. 
Prizinc mushrooms for their esculent qualities and having the 
mushroom hunger upon me, I went out the first of October to gather 
some Tricholoma personatum. 
After having filled a large paper bag with that species and about 
a quart of Marasmius oreades — which has been conspicuously 
abundant the past season — I started for home well satisfied with my 
luck, looking forward to the enjoyment of these delicacies. As I 
was passing some recently turned soil where a granolithic sidewalk 
had been made, my attention was arrested by some morels growing 
at my feet. I picked about a dozen of varying size and shape. 
When I reached home I attempted to look them up. I could find 
no records of morels being found in the autumn, nor could I find any 
description of a species which agreed perfectly with the specimens 
found. I put the morels in a white enamel plate to dry near the gas 
range. They gave off spores freely. These were of a rich pinkish 
yellow, apricot, I think it would be called. 
At short intervals during the month I visited the locality where 
the morels grew. I found in all about seventy-five. 'The last were 
picked October 28th. Although I looked for them several times 
later none were found. 
While I was inclined to think they were a form of Morchella conica, 
I could not completely identify them with that species owing to their 
manner of growth and to other peculiarities, for only the smaller 
ones were conical As they increased in size the growth became 
lateral in cap and stem. About fifty per cent had an opening in the 
apex about a quarter of an inch in diameter. 
They varied in size from the smaller conical ones, about the size 
of a lady's little finger, to the large broad ones, about twice the size 
of a hen's egg. The color of the pits, in fresh specimens, was smoky 
and dark; in some nearly elephant gray. The edges of the ridges 
between the pits were white or creamy, forming a beautiful contrast 
of color. The stem was larger at the base than at the top, which 
was wrinkled and brownish and rather squamulose or scurfy. Inside 
the morel was creamy white. 
Ur pm 
