Agaricaceee 



Panus. rent, whitish. Stem adorned with a slight tawny hairiness which is 

 more fully developed toward the base. Spores minute, 4-5x1.5-2^. 



Decaying wood of birch. Newfoundland. October, Rev. A. C. 

 Waghorne. Peck, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, Vol. 23, No. 10. 



Common in West Virginia mountains on birches, 1882; found at Ea- 

 gle's Mere, Pa., August, 1898. Quite plentiful on decaying birch trees, 

 which abound there. Size from 3s 1)2 in. across. 



Eaten raw it has a gummy quality and very pleasant nutty flavor. I 

 did not have opportunity to cook it, but regard it as a species well 

 worth trying. 



P. stip'ticilS Fr. stypticus, astringent. PileilS ^-i in. broad, cin- 

 namon becoming pale, arid, thin, but not membranaceous, kidney- 

 shaped, pruinose, the cuticle separating into furfuraceous scales. Stem 

 not reaching I in. long, solid, definitely lateral, compressed, dilated up- 

 ward, ascending, pruinose, paler than the gills. Gills ending deter- 

 minately (not decurrent), thin, very narrow, crowded, elegantly con- 

 nected by veins, cinamon. Fries. 



Gregarious, cespitose, remarkable for its astringent taste. The pileus 

 sometimes has a funnel-shaped appearance with lobes all around. 



On stumps, etc. Common. August to February. 



Reckoned poisonous. Stevenson. 



Spores obovoid-spheroid, 2-3x1-2/1* K.; 3x47* W.G.S. 



Plentiful and general. The markings upon the cap in moist weather 

 are sometimes exquisitely regular. 



The immediate and lasting unpleasantness of this fungus to mouth 

 and throat, whether cooked or raw, will cancel all desire to eat of it 

 forevermore. A nibble will detect it. It is reckoned poisonous, and 

 may be. No one but a determined suicide would resort to it. Dr. 

 Lambotte asserts that it is a violent purgative. 



236 



