AgaricacesB 



CANTHAREL'LUS Adans. 

 Gr. a vase, a cup. 



Canthareiius. Hymenophore continuous with the stem, descending unchanged into 

 the trama. Gills thick, fleshy, waxy, fold-like, somewhat branched, 



obtuse at the edge. Spores white. Fleshy, 

 putrescent fungi, without a veil. Fries. 



In Canthareiius the gills vein-like and gen- 

 erally thick with an obtuse edge are entirely 

 different from those of all the preceding 

 genera. In those they are thin, and distinct 

 from the pileus and from each other. In 



Hygrophorus the gills are frequently thick, 

 CANTHARELLUS CIBARIUS. 



but the edge is always sharp. The species 



of Craterellus are funnel-shaped, resembling some of those in Cantha- 

 reiius, but are distinguished by their lack of evident gills. 



Monograph New York Species of Canthareiius, Peck, Bull. 1887. 



The members of this genus are few, but they are choice. Of them 

 is the Canthareiius cibarius, of which Trattinik quaintly says : "Not 

 only this same fungus never did any one harm, but might even restore 

 the dead." 



The writer first made its acquaintance when among the West Virginia 

 mountains in iSSi. The golden patches of single and clustered 

 cibarius, fragrant as ripened apricots, tufting the short grass or mossy 

 ground under beeches, oaks and like-growing trees, through which the 

 sunlight filtered generously, were so tempting, that he determined there 

 must be luxury, even in death, from such toadstools. 



Experiments made by the writer in West Virginia where the species 

 grows luxuriantly and is of much higher flavor than any he has found 

 elsewhere, prove that it is easy to transplant within congenial habitats, 

 either by the mycelium or spores. Nature, there, resorts to washing 

 masses of leaves containing the propagating parts of the fungus along 

 the depressions of the water-sheds, and it is found growing plentifully 

 where the wind has drifted forest leaves against trees, brush, and fence- 

 corners. 



Other species of the genus do not, as a rule, grow so plentifully, 

 neither are they of equal excellence, but several of them are equal to 



214 



