HYGKOPHORUS. 331 



HYGROPHOEUS. Fries, (fig. 1, p. 301.) 



Pileus regular or variously undulated and wavy, often 

 viscid or moist ; gills more or less decurrent, or sometimes 

 adnate or adnexed, waxy, often thick and forked, but the 

 margin always thin and sharp, flesh of the pileus passing- 

 unchanged into the trama ; stem central, continuous with the 

 flesh of the pileus ; spores subglobose or elliptical, smooth. 



HygropJioriis, Fries, Hym. Eur., p. 405 ; Cke., Hdbk., p. 289. 



Terrestrial, their development in many cases being favoured 

 by the early autumnal frosts; soon decaying; often very 

 fragile ; many species are glutinous or viscid. Bright colours, 

 as crimson, golden, lemon-yellow, &c., are not uncommon. 

 The gills are usually distant, thick, and waxy, and in this 

 respect the genus approaches Cantharellus, but always diflers 

 in the gills being broader and the margin or edge, thin and 

 and shar]3. 



The essential character of the genus consists in the 

 hymenium at length becoming soft and separating from the 

 trama, a character remarkably well seen in Hygroplwriis 

 caprinus, H. coccineus, H. nitrosuSj &o. (Fries.) 



ANALYSIS OF THE SUBGENEBA OF 

 HYGBOPEOBUS. 



Suhgen. I. Hygrocybe. Fries, Syst. Myc, i. p. 101. 



Veil absent ; whole fungus slender, watery, fragile. 

 Pileus viscid when moist, shining when dry, rarely floccosely 

 scaly. Stem hollow, soft, not ornamented with granular or 

 wart-like projections. Gills soft. Most species brightly 

 coloured. 



Suhgen. II. Camarophyllus. Fries, Syst. Myc, i. p. 98. 



Veil absent, stem even, glabrous or fibrillose, not rough 

 with wart-like projecting points. Pileus firm, opaque, moist 

 in rainy weather, but not viscid. Gills distant, arcuate. 



