to rccogni/X' it after its peculiar appearance is once known. The 

 typical lonii has tlic cap adorncil with iiuinerons minute tufts of 

 brown or hlackish hairri or librils, which are often so crowded on 

 and near the centre as to g:ive that part a darker hue than the 

 rest. Sometimes these tihrils are so dense and nmttcd that they 

 give a woolly appearance to the surface of the cap, and in other 

 cases they are entirely wanting', and the cap is smooth. An 

 nmho is occasionally present in the centre of the cap, and fjen- 

 erally mature plants have the margin more or less striated. The 

 color varies from a pallid or whitish hue to a dark reddish-lu-owri, 

 but the most common color is a brownish-yellow, that suggests 

 the name "honey-colored." The flesh is white or whitish, and 

 the taste in the raw state is rather harsh, acrid or unpleasant. 

 The gills are at first whitish, but they become more dingy with 

 age, and are then often spotted or stained with it ddish-brown. 

 Sometimes they are slightly excavated or notched on the edge 

 just before reaching the stem; again they run evenly to it, and 

 often extend downwards a little on it — that is, they are 

 decurrent. They are sometimes dusted by the abundant 

 white spores. The stem also varies from pallid to brown. 

 It is usually more or less fibrillose or floeose, and often 

 shows a Avhite or even an olive-green tomentum at its base. It 

 is stufl'ed or hollow. Its collar is either of a thick cottony tex- 

 ture or thin and membranous. Soiiiotinies it is so thin, and even 

 webliy, that it soon disappears. 



The plants grow scattere<l or in gregarious groups or in clus- 

 ters. The latter is the most common method, and these clusters 

 are sometimes so large that a single tuft would nearly fill an 

 ordinary water-pail. Generally the cap is 1 to 6 inches broad, 

 and the stem 1 to 6 inches long and one-fourth to three-fourths 

 of an inch thick. This mushroom does not often appear in 

 abundance until near the end of summer or the beginning of 

 autumn, but specimens have occasionally been seen in June. 

 The tufted forms grow especially about stumps or on old decay- 

 ing prostrate trunks of trees. It seems to grow equally well in 

 Avoods and in open places. Monstrous forms sometimes occur, 

 and an abortive form, not distinguishable from the abortive form 

 of Clifopihis nhortivns, is sometimes found growing with ''^'oll- 

 developcd form3. These are whitish, somewhat globular, tuie 

 ir.ch or more in diaTf.e'er, with no definite dintinclion of cjij) nnd 

 stem. The taste is farinaceous, and the edible qualitii^s arc quite 

 as iiood as in the normal form. 



The following varieties may be noticed : 



49 



