WtllTE-SPOkHI) AGARICS. 1<>.') 



portion of the branch or trunk. The cap is from 5-10 cm. broad. The 

 plants occur from June to No\'ember. 



The pileus is ^unw-x, tlie mar^iin incurvcJ wlien _\-(»un^', and mnre 

 or less depressed in age, smooth, broadened toward the margin and 

 tapering into the short stem which is very short in some cases and 

 elongated in nthers. Often tlir caps are quite irregular and the mar- 

 gin wavy, especiall\' wlien old. It is quite firm, but the margin splits 

 quite readily on being handled. The color varies greatly, white, 

 yellowish, gray, or brownish and lilac tints. The flesh is white. 

 The stems are usually attached to the pileus, at or near one edge. 

 The gills are white, broad, not at all crowded, and extend down on 

 the stem as in the oyster agaric. They are white or whitish, and as 

 in the other related species are sometimes cracked, due probably to 

 the tension brought to bear because of the expanding pileus. The 

 spores are tinged witli lilac when seen in mass, as when caught on 

 paper. The color seems to be intensified after the spores have lain 

 on the paper for a day or two. 



It is \'ery difficult to distinguish this species from the oyster aga- 

 ric. The color of the spores seems to be the only distinguishing 

 character, and this may not be constant. Peck suggests that it may 

 only be a variety of the oyster agaric. I have found the plant 

 growing from a dead spot on the base of a living oak tree. There 

 was for several years a drive near this tree, and the wheels of vehi- 

 cles cut into the roots of the tree on this side, and probably so injured 

 it as to kill a portion and give this fungus and another one (Po/ysficfits 

 pi'rgcniii'iiiis) a start, and later they ha\'e slowly encroached on the 

 side of the tree. 



Figure 105 represents the plant (No. 3307, C. U. iierbariuni) 

 from a dead maple trunk in a woods near Ithaca, collected during the 

 autumn of 1899. ^his plant compares favorably with the oyster 

 agaric as an edible one. Neither of these plants preserve as well as 

 the elm pleurotus. 



Pleurotus dryinus Pers. Edible. — Pleurotus Jiriiius represents a sec- 

 tion of the ;ienus in which the species are pro\ided with a veil when 

 young, but which disappears as the pileus expands. This species 

 has been long known in Europe on trunks of oak, ash, willow, etc., 

 and occurs there from September to October. It was collected near 

 Ithaca, N. V., in a beech woods along Six-mile creek, on October 

 24th, 1898, growing from a decayed knothole in the trunk of a living 

 hickory tree, and again in a few days from a decayed stump. The 

 pileus varies from 5-10 cm. broad, and the lateral or eccentric stem 

 is 2-12 cm. long by 1-2 cm. in thickness, the length of the stem 



