CLASSIFICATION OP A.GARH 169 



decurrent or broadly adnate gills, and mostly lignieoloua habit; 

 Cortinarius, iii having a more delicately woven, spider wreb-like Cor- 

 tina and darker brown to ferruginous apores. Bebeloma corre- 

 sponds to the genus Tricholoma of the white-spored group. Their 

 edibility is qo1 established and a number of Bpecies are u in l<-i- bus* 

 picion. 



The PILEUS is glabrous, somewhat viscid, mostly with pale 

 colors: whitish, tan, brownish, dingj ochraceous or rufous, often 

 with slunlcs of these colors variously distributed. The small amount 

 of variation in the colors of differenl species makes ii difficull to 

 become rapidly acquainted with them, and often our has to rely 

 on Bomewhal minute or variable characters to distinguish them. 

 The young plants should always be examined for the fibrillose veil 



or Cortina which disappears in mosl mature specimens and which 

 is entirely wanting in one section. The viscidity should also be estab- 

 lished before referring a plant to this genus since this is hardly no- 

 ticeable in dry weather. The GILLS at length become emarginate, 

 and this character, as in the genera Tricholoma and Entoloma, 

 limits the genus. Variations sometimes occur in individual speci- 

 mens, where the gills are adnate-decurrent or arcuate, and hence a 

 single specimen is very unsatisfactory Tor a definite diagnosis. The 

 edge of the gills is sometimes minutely fimbriate on account of the 

 long sterile cells or cystidia and in a few species the edge <1 infills 

 drops of liquid which give it a beaded appearance under a lens; 

 in many cases the edge remains white or whitish alter the spores 

 have colored the rest of the gills. The STEM often has a distinct 

 outer, fleshy or fibrous rind which varies in thickness, while the 

 interior, which is of varying diameter in different species, is Btuffed 

 by a white pith. While the stem is developing this pith breaks dow q 

 leaving a hollow axis, although In some species the pith persists a 



long time. When no pith is present, the stem is said to he solid and 

 is then composed of a fibrous texture which does not disappear. In 

 both cases, however, grubs nearly always hollow out the Btem at 

 maturity, a condition which must he clearly distinguished from 

 the term "hollow' stem." which is not applied in that case. The 

 BPORES are usually pale in color, ochraceous. hrownish or alula 



ceous, coloring the mature gills a similar shade. The paler culm' ot 



the gills and spores usually provides the means of separation from 



the genus Cortinarius. The sha] f the spores varies but is gener- 

 ally elliptical-ovate, inequilateral and apiculate at one end; they 



are almost smooth except in a lew species in which the\ are ob 

 BCUrelv rough. CYSTIDIA are rather pare in this genus on the 



