98 



STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



Figurp^qS — Mycena acicula. Cap 

 brilliant red, gills and stem yel- 

 lowish (natural size). Copyright 

 1900. 



yellow gills and stem it makes a very pretty object growing on 

 leaves, twigs, or rotten wood in the forest. It occurs during sum- 

 mer and autumn, it is 2-5 cm. high, the cap 2-4 mm. broad, and 



the stem is thread-like. 



The pileus is very thin, mem- 

 branaceous, bell-shaped, then con- 

 vex, whenthe pointed apex appears 

 as a small umbo, it is smooth, striate 

 on the margin, and of a rich vermil- 

 lion or orange color. The gills are 

 rounded at the stem and adnexed, 

 rather broad in the middle, distant, 

 yellow, the edge white, or sometimes 

 the gills are entirely white. The 

 stem is very slender, with a root-like 

 process entering the rotten wood, 

 smooth except the hairs on the root- 

 like process, yellow. 

 Figure 98 is from plants (No. 2780, C. U. herbarium) collected 

 in a woods near Ithaca. It has been found here several times. 



Mycena cyanothrix Atkinson. — This is a very pretty plant growing 

 on rotting wood in clusters, often two or three joined at the base, the 

 base of the stem inserted in the rotten wood for 1-2 cm., and the 

 base is clothed with blue, hair-like threads. The plants are 6-9 cm. 

 high, the cap 1-2 cm. broad, and the stem not quite 2 mm. in 

 diameter. 



The pileus is ovate to convex, viscid when young. The color is 

 bright blue when young, becoming pale and whitish in age, with a 

 tendency to fuscous on the center. The cap is smooth and the 

 margin finely striate. After the plants have dried the color is nearly 

 uniform ochraceous or tawny. The gills are close, free, narrow, 

 white, then grayish white, the edge finely toothed or fimbriate. 

 The spores are globose, smooth, 6-9//. The stem is slender, hollow, 

 faintly purple when young, becoming whitish or flesh color, flexuous, 

 or nearly straight, even, often two united at the base into a root-like 

 extension which enters the rotten wood. The base of the stem is 

 covered with deep blue mycelium which retains its color in age, but 

 disappears on drying after a time. Figure 99 is from plants (No. 

 2382, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, in woods, June 16, 1898. 

 Mycena hsematopa Pers. — This is one of the species of Mycena with 

 a red juice which exudes in drops where wounds occur on the plant. 

 It is easily recognized by its dense cespitose habit, the deep blood 



