Ag-aricacese 



Hygrophorus. under pines in certain localities, and is a great favorite with those who 

 know it. It is easily prepared and requires little cooking." 



I have eaten enjoyably of it since 1881. 



Plentiful in the Jersey pines, in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and 

 equal to any toadstool of its size. 



H. fuligi'neus Frost resembling soot. Pileus convex or nearly 



plane, glabrous, very viscid or glu- 

 tinous, grayish-brown or soot-color, 

 the disk often darker or almost black. 

 Gills subdistant, adnate or decurrent, 

 white. Stem solid, viscid or gluti- 

 nous, white or whitish. Spores ellip- 

 tical, 7-9x5,0,. 



The Sooty hygrophorous resembles 

 the Club-stemmed clitocybe in the 

 color of its cap, but in nearly every 

 other respect it is different. When 

 moist the cap is covered with an abun- 

 dant gluten which when dry gives it a 

 shining appearance as if varnished. 

 The color varies from grayish-brown 

 to a very dark or sooty-brown with 

 the central part usually still darker or 



almost black, but never with an umbo. The flesh and the gills are white. 



The stem also is white or but slightly shaded toward the base with the 



color of the cap. It is variable in length and shape, being long or short, 



straight or crooked, everywhere equal in thickness or tapering toward 



the base. It is glutinous and unpleasant to handle. 



The cap is 1-4 in. broad, the stem 2-4 in. long, and 4-8 lines thick. 



The plants grow either singly or in tufts. In the latter case the caps 



are often irregular from mutual pressure. 



The plants occur early in October and November, in pine woods or 



woods of pine and hemlock intermixed. 



This mushroom is tender and of excellent flavor, but its sticky and 



often dirty covering should be peeled before cooking. Peck, 49th Rep. 



N. Y. State Bot. 



HYGROPHORUS FULIGINEUS. 

 About one-half natural size. 



158 



