632 THE AGARICACEAE OF MICHIGAN 



or umbonate, floccose-scaly, even or striate beneath the scales on 

 margin when old, color of scales variable: white, yellowish, rufous- 

 ochraceous or ochre, the disk often darker, brown or reddish-brown, 

 white beneath scales, margin often appendicnlate from remnants 

 of the veil. FLESH white, thin, flaccid. GILLS free, close, white, 

 narrower in front, edge minutely floceulose. STEM slender, 3-10 

 cm. long, 3-5 mm. thick, equal or tapering upward, sheathed up 

 to the evanescent, floccose annulus, by soft, loose, floccose, white or 

 yellowish scales or tomentum, hollow, fragile, whitish under scales 

 and at apex. SPOEES very variable in size, even in the same 

 specimen, 10-16 x 4-6 inicr., subfusiform, elongated-elliptical, broader 

 at the distal end or symmetrical, etc., smooth, white. 



(Dried: Pileus pale ochraceous or rufous-tan; stem covered by 

 a white floccose sheath.) 



Scattered. Ground or debris in woods. Marquette, Bay View, 

 Ann Arbor, New Richmond ; throughout the State. July to October. 

 Frequent. 



There is much uncertainty among all mycologists concerning the 

 limits of this species. L. metulaespora is said to be a very similar 

 plant. Studies so far made, both of the European and American 

 plant, seem to have increased the confusion. Some (Morgan, 

 Mycol., Vol. 12) give the spores of L. clypeolaria 15-20x5-6 micr., 

 and L. metulaespora 9-12x4-4 micr. Others (Beardslee, Jour. 

 Mycol., Vol 13, p. 26, 1907) reverse this. The spore-sizes of the 

 Michigan specimens overlap both. I have so far found none with 

 spores 18-20 micr. long, but, of course, shorter, immature spores 

 are always present. Most European authors omit the spore-size 

 of L. clypeolaria Massee (Massee, European Fungus Flora Agaric- 

 acese, 1902) gives 15-16 micr. for L. metulaespora, which is close 

 to ours; for L. clypeolaria, he gives 6 micr. Peck (Peck, N. Y. 

 State Mus. Rep. 54, 1901, p. 173) has come to the conclusion that 

 there is no essential difference except the striatious on the cap of 

 L. metulaespora; this is hardly a specific distinction. A number 

 of varieties have been split from these species, (Quelet & Battaille, 

 Flore des Amanitos et des Lepiotes, 1902, p. 66) and they are 

 evidently very variable in color, and this may be true of the spores 

 within certain limits. For the present we will use one name for 

 all the forms. 



