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MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 65 



unpolished, pubescent or obscurely tonientose, even, dry, margin not striate. 

 Flesh white or whitish, not changing where bruised. Gills white or whitish, 

 subdistant or distant, thickish, narrowed behind and ascending, broader in 

 the middle, few forked, short and long alternating, edge often distinctly 

 greenish. Stem short, stout, solid, white becoming dingy, 2-5 cm. long, 

 about 2 cm. thick, eciual or subeciual, glabrous, often with a narrow pale 

 green zone at apex. Spores globose, 9-10 micr. rarely 11 or 12 micr.,tuber- 

 culate, white in mass. Taste tardily but weakly acrid. Odor none. 



Gregarious, covered with leaves or sand. In the maple, birch or coni- 

 ferous woods of the north; in oak woods of southern Michigan. Often very 

 abundant in sandy soil. It is a coarse plant much like Lactarius vellerius 

 Fr. July to October. 



The same plant occurs around Stockholm, Sweden, with the edge of the 

 gills and the apex of the stem greenish. I have never seen the gills colored 

 glaucous-green thruout as shown in Bresadola's figures of R. chloroides Bres. 

 The slight acrid taste and unpolished pileus and close gills are used by Peck 

 to distinguish R. brevipes Pk. It is significant that Fries in his "Mono- 

 graphia" does not describe the pileus as "niticlus" as he does in Hymen. 

 Euro p., and Romell refers the Stockholm plants to R. delica Fr., and knows 

 no shining-capped species. Bresadola would doubtless refer our plant to 

 R. chloroides (Kromb.) Bres. because of the occasional greenish tints and 

 the large size. At any rate the two descriptions are hard to keep distinct, 

 and I shall refer our plant to R. delica Fr. as it occurs abundantly where 

 Fries collected. Massee has retained the name R. delica for a Russula with 

 ''polished" pileus. 



2. Russula brevipes Pk. 



(The short stem Russula.) 



Illustrations: N. Y. State Mus. Rep., 43. 1890. PI. 2, Fig. 5-8. N. Y. 

 State Mus. Rep. 54. 1900. PI. 71, Fig. 1-5. 

 Not yet distinguished in this state from R. delica Fr. The closeness of 

 the gills varies somewhat in R. delica, but well developed specimens do not 

 have actually crowded or close gills. The close gills seem to be the only 

 sufficient character by which R. brevipes can be separated from R. delica, 

 since the descriptions of R. delica are probably at fault when "shining" or 

 "polished" is used for the surface of the pileus. The slight touch of acridity 

 also belongs to R. delica, as we have seen. 



3. Russula nigricans Fr. 

 (The blackish Russula.) 



Illustrations: Hard's Mushrooms. 1908. P. 184, Fig. 146. 



Pileus 7-15 cm., rarely more, broad, fleshy, compact, firm, convex then 

 depressed to subinfuntlibulif«rm, margin at first incurved then expanded 

 and elevated, and often irregularly wavy, whitish and clouded with umber 

 when young, soon darker, smoky-umber, subviscid, even, glabrous. Flesh 

 white, changing to reddish where bruised, then blackish. Gills white 

 becoming grayish, thick and firm, subdistant to distajit, inters]5aces sometimes 

 venose, narrowed behind and adnexed, short and long alternating. Stem 

 stout, hard, rather short, 2-6 cm. long, 1-3 cm. thick, even, glabrous, white 

 becoming smoky umber. Spores .subglobose, 8-10 micr., white. Taste 

 mild, sometimes slightly and tardily acrid. Odor none. 

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