CLASSIFICATION OF AGARICS 329 



copses, swamps, etc., among mosses or on humus, or rich loam. 

 Throughout the State. A.ugust-October. Frequent. 



This species is distinguished From all others by its peculiar trans 

 tersely-banded stem, although often only the lower portion Bhows 

 this character distinctly. The white cortina extends down the stem 

 inside the gelatinous layer as a soft, Qoccose layer, and when the 

 oilier glutinous layer breaks across on drying, the Qoccose, cortinate 

 layer is exposed and gives the Qoccose effect to the bands. The young 

 plants often arise deep in the humus, and the stoul stem at iliis 

 time has almosl the diameter of the young cap. The gluten on the 

 upper half of the stem, often of most of the pari above the bud- 

 stratum, is inclined to dry or dissolve, so that the diffracted-scaly 

 character is found onlj in the lower protected part. In the young 

 stage the arrangement of tin* two veils e;m be easily made out. 

 1 1 is edible but should be peeled before cooking. 



This is Cortinariii8 collinitus Fr. of all authors, except of Pries 

 himself. Of this I satisfied myself by an examination of the plates 

 of Fries which are deposited in the Ro'yal Museum at Stockholm, 



Sweden, and by collections around I'psala and Stockholm. In 

 the persistently moist climate of that region, the thick rings on the 

 stem develop much more perfectly than with US, and this is well 

 shown by Pries in the published plate in [cones referred to above. 

 Furthermore, there exists in the same collection an unpublished 

 plate by Pries, marked C. collinitus Pr., illustrating, in all its 

 stages, a plant frequent in conifer forests around Stockholm. This 

 is very similar to c. cylindripes KauiV.. differing only in having 

 larger spores. Fries, himself, has brought about the confusion, in 

 his description of the two species. Por example, the description 

 accompanying Plate 11 s -. Pig. 1. in [cones, does not apply to those 



figures, nor does his description of <'. collinitus in any of his works, 



apply to the figures of the unpublished plate a1 Stockholm. Start- 

 ing with his description of r. collinitus in "Systema," where he 

 says the gills are "purpurascens" or "violascens," he gradually 



changes it in hrs later works, and in Ilvmen. Europ. describes them 

 as at first "argillaceous" or "caesiOUS." In Systema the sc;ilcs 

 are said to be "appressed" to the stem, and his whole diagnosis in 

 the Systema might he interpreted — although somewhat forced — ■ 

 to refer to his unpublished plate. In view of these facts, I have 

 ventured to correct what appears to have hecume an established 



error. In the case of the descriptions the matter remains debatable, 



but there can lie no doubt about the plates. 



This is a very variable .-.pedes, and a number of ecological forms 



