234 THE AGARICACEAE OF MICHIGAN 



(AA) Pileus 1-5 cm. broad. 



(a) Flesh of stem soon blood-red; in hot-bouses. 235. P. echinata Fr. 

 (aa) Flesh whitish, not turning red. 



(b) Fibrils of pileus grayish-brown or brown; gills at first gray. 



232. P. mieromegetha Pk. 

 (bb) Not markedly fibrillose. 



(c) Pileus creamy-white, with yellowish stains. 233. P. comtula Fr. 

 (cc) Pileus with pinkish to reddish-brown hues, slightly fibrillose. 

 234. P. diminutive Pk. 



Section I. Bivclarcs. Annulus double, with thick flocculose 

 patches on under side. 



223. Psalliota cretacella Atk. (Edible) 

 Jour, of Mycology, Vol. 8, 1902. 



PILEUS 4-7 cm. broad, convex to expanded, thin, glabrous, white, 

 sometimes inclined to be slightly viscid in wet weather, even. 

 FLESH white, sometimes with a tinge of • pink. GILLS free, 

 crowded, narrow 7 , 34 mm. broad, narrowed behind, white at first, 

 then sloivly pink, later dark grayish-brow n, not becoming blackish. 

 STEM 5-8 cm. long, 0-10 mm. thick, tapering from the enlarged 

 base, white, glabrous above the annulus, chalky-white below and 

 covered with minute, white, powdery scales often arranged in 

 irregular concentric rings below, solid, but center less dense. AN- 

 NULUS double, persistent, white, smooth above, the lower surface 

 with very fine floccose scales similar to those on the stem from which 

 the annulus was separated. SPORES 4-5 x 3 inicr. ODOR and 

 TASTE of almonds as in P. arvensis. 



Gregarious or subcaespitose. On the leaf-mold, debris, etc., in 

 coniferous regions. Marquette. Bay View. August-September. In- 

 frequent. 



The description is adapted from that of Atkinson. P. cretacella 

 is closely related to P. cretaceus Fr. which differs, according to 

 Fries' description, in the hollow stem, the blackish-fuscous gills 

 when mature and in that the pileus becomes at length scaly. Our 

 plants have a glabrous chalky-white pileus and solid stem. Rickeu 

 gives spores of P. cretaceus as 8-9 x 5-6 micr. 



