stem three to five inches long, and a half inch or more thick. It 

 grows in woods in hilly or mountainous districts, and may be 

 found from July to September. It is solitary or scattered in its 

 mode of growth, and not very plentiful. It retains its color 

 somewhat when cooked, and in consequence, the dish of Violet 

 mushrooms is scarcely as attractive to the eyes as it is to the 

 palate. 



The Smeared cortinarius, C. collinitus, is much more common 

 than the preceding species, and has a much wider range. As its 

 name indicates, both cap and stem are covered with a viscid slime 

 or gluten, which makes it disagreeable, or at least unpleasant, to 

 handle. The cap is yellow, tawny-yellow, or somewhat ochra- 

 ceous in color, and when the gluten on it has dried, it is very 

 smooth and shining. The flesli is white or whitish. The gills 

 are at first of a grayish or bluish-white hue, sometimes called 

 clay-colored, but when mature they are rusty-ochraceous or cin- 

 namon color. Tlie stem is straight, solid, cylindrical, and gen- 

 erally a little paler than the cap. When the gluten on it dries, it 

 cracks transversely, giving the stem a peculiar, scaly appearance. 

 The plant is two to five inches high, with a cap commonly one 

 and a half to three inches broad. The stem is one-fourth to one- 

 half an inch thick. It grows in thin woods, copses and partly- 

 cleared lands, and may be found here from August to October. 

 It is well to peel the caps before cooking them. The gluten 

 often causes dirt and rubbish to adhere to them very tenaciously. 

 The Cinnamon cortinarius, C. cinnamomeus, is a smaller spe- 

 cies than either of the preceding, but much more plentiful. Its 

 cap is usually one to two inches broad, its stem one to three , 



inches long and about one- 

 fourth of an inch thick, or a 

 little less. Its cap may be con- 

 vex, plane, or furnished with 

 a central prominence or umbo. 

 "When young, at least, it is 

 coated with silky or hairy 

 fibrils, and these sometimes 

 are distinctly visible even in 

 the mature plant. Its color is 

 quite variable, but always 

 ciitopiiuspiuuuug. g^^^^p shade of yellowish brown 



or cinnamon. This has suggested the name. The flesh is yellow- 

 ish. The gills also are very variable in color, but in the young 

 plant they are some shade of yellow, tawny, or ochraceous, ex- 



38 



Cortinarius i-iiinaiiii>nunis. 



