Leucosporae 



Common over the United States. West Virginia, 1881, North Caro- 

 lina, 1890, Pennsylvania, 1887, Mt. Gretna, 1897-1898. Mcllvaine. 



Gregarious, and often in tufts, sometimes in partial rings. 



An exceedingly variable species. White, buff, smoky, pinkish colors 

 are common. The cap shapes are also diverse. The margins of some 

 are incurved; of others repand. The weather seems to have much to 

 do with their shapes. 



M. C. Cooke says: "It requires careful cooking, as it is liable to be 

 condemned as tough, unless treated slowly, but it is a great favorite 

 abroad. ' ' He calls them ' ' Buff Caps. ' ' 



All fungi are the better for slow cooking. The H. pratensis in all its 

 forms is excellent, but particularly so in croquettes and pates. 



H. virgin'eus Fr. virgo, a virgin. (Plate XXXVII, fig. 6, p. 146. ) 



Wholly white. Pileus fleshy, convex then plane, obtuse, moist, at length 



depressed, cracked into patches, floccose when dry. Stem curt, stuffed, 



firm, attenuated at the base, externally becoming even and naked. Gills 



decurrent, distant, rather thick. Fries. 



Flesh sometimes equal, sometimes abruptly thin. Commonly con- 

 founded with H. niveus, but it is more difficult to distinguish it from 

 white forms of H. pratensis. It is distinguished chiefly by its smaller 

 stature, by the color being constantly white, sometimes becoming pale, 

 by the obtuse pileus being scarcely turbinate, at length cracked into patches 

 and floccose when dry, and by the gills being thinner, etc. 



In pastures. Common. Stevenson. 



Spores i2x5-6/x Cooke. 



Tastes like M. oreades. M.J.B. Delicious broiled or stewed. Cooke. 



"Mony littles make muckle," says the Scotch proverb. It applies 

 well to the brave little toadstool looking through the first grass of lawns 

 for the coming of spring, and coming again in the autumn, defiant of 

 early frosts. Small though it be, its numbers soon fill the basket. 



The "Ivory Caps" are plentiful, and extend their haunts to the 

 woods, where thick mold or grassy places abound. 



H. ni'veus Fr. niveus, snow-white. (Plate XXXVII, fig. 7, p. 146.) 

 Wholly white. PileilS scarcely reaching I in. broad, somewhat mem- 

 branaceous, and without a more compact disk, hence truly umbilicate, 



153 



