OCHRE-SPORED AGARICS. 167 



to reddish or brownish where bruised. The gills are decurrent, when 

 young arcuate, then ascending, and are more or less reticulated on 

 the stem. They are grayish, then greenish yellow changing to 

 brown where bruised. The spores are oval, 7-9 x 4-5 /<. The stem 

 is short, even, and of the same color as the cap. 



At Ithaca, N. Y., the plant is sometimes abundant in late autumn 

 in grassy places near or in groves. The Figure 159 is from plants 

 (No. 2508 C. U. herbarium) growing in such a place in the suburbs 

 of Ithaca. At Blowing Rock, N. C., the plant is often very abun- 

 dant along the roadsides on the ground during August and Sep- 

 tember. 



Paxillus rhodoxanthus (Schw.) This species was first described by 

 de Schweinitz as Agaricus rhodoxanthus, p. 83 No. 640, Synopsis fun- 

 gorum Carolina superioris, in Schriften der Naturforschenden Gesell- 

 schaft 1 : 19-131, 1822. It was described under his third section 

 of Agaricus under the sub-genus Gymnopus, in which are mainly spe- 

 cies now distributed in Clitocybc and Hygrophorus. He remarks on 

 the elegant appearance of the plant and the fact that it so nearly 

 resembles Boletus subtomentosus as to deceive one. The resemblance 

 to Boletus subtomentosus as one looks upon the pileus when the 

 plant is growing on the ground is certainly striking, because of the 

 reddish yellow, ochraceous rufus or chestnut brown color of the cap 

 together with the minute tomentum covering the surface. The sug- 

 gestion is aided also by the color of the gills, which one is apt to get 

 a glimpse of from above without being aware that the fruiting sur- 

 face has gills instead of tubes. But as soon as the plant is picked 

 and we look at the under surface, all suggestion of a Boletus vanishes, 

 unless one looks carefully at the venation of the surface of the gills 

 and the spaces between them. The plant grows on the ground in 

 woods. At Blowing Rock, N. C., where it is not uncommon, I have 

 always found it along the mountain roads on the banks. It is 5-10 

 cm. high, the cap from 3-8 cm. broad, and the stem 6-10 mm. in 

 thickness. 



The pileus is convex, then expanded, plane or convex, and when 

 mature more or less top-shaped because it is so thick at the middle. 

 In age the surface of the cap often becomes cracked into small areas, 

 showing the yellow flesh in the cracks. The flesh is yellowish and 

 the surface is dry. The gills are not very distant, they are stout, 

 chrome yellow to lemon yellow, and strongly decurrent. A few of 

 them are forked toward the base, and the surface and the space 

 between them are marked by anastomosing veins forming a reticulum 

 suggestive of the hymenium of the Polyporacece. This character is 



