MICHIGAN ACADEMY OP SCIENCE. 73 



dirty brownish or ochraceoiis, usually tinged with olive or green, viscid when 

 young or moist, especially on the disk, striate on 7nargin when mature. Flesh 

 white. Gills dull white becoming somewhat dingy cream color in age, rather 

 broad in front, narrowed toward the stem, adnexed or free, thick, distinct, 

 not crowded, rather brittle, feAv forked, few short. Stem 3-6 cm. long, 1-2.5 

 cm. thick, short, stout, spongy-stuffed, subequal or ventricose, white. Spores 

 white, subglobose, 8-10 micr. Taste mild. Odor none. 



Scattered or gregarious. Oak and maple woods in southern Michigan. 

 July to September. Common. 



This is near to R. virescens, and is apparently much more common. It 

 seems to be still referred to R. virescens by some authors, altho in that case 

 the Friesian description will have to be modified to include it. The figure 

 in Hard's book is doubtless this species instead of R. virescens as labeled. 



SECTION B. 



Margin of pileus thin, at first incurved. Gills attenuate at both ends, 

 or broad or narrow thruout. 



20. RussuLA VARiATA Bauu. 

 (The variable Russula.) 



Illustrations: N. Y. State Mus. Voll. 105, 1905. PI. 101, p. 41, fig. 1-5. 



Pileus 5-12 cm. broad, fleshy, firm, convex then depressed to subinfundi- 

 buliform, idscid, not striate, purplish or deep rose fink when young, later 

 variegated with olive or dark uml3er or sometimes greenish with only a trace 

 of purple, opaque and reticulate-wrinkled under lens, the thin pellicle slightly 

 separable on the thin margin, with a subsilky or dull lustre when dry. Flesh 

 white, firm, cheesy, tinged grayish under pellicle. Gills shining and per- 

 sistently white, adnato-decurrent, thin, rather crowded, narrowed at both ends, 

 not broad, subdichotamously forked, interspaces venose. Stem 4-7 cm, long, 

 1-3 cm. thick, white, firm, solid, equal or subequal, sometimes tapering 

 downward, even. Spores white in mass, subglobose, 7-10 micr. Taste 

 mild to tardily slightly acrid or slightly astringent. Odor none. 



Gregarious. Under conifers at Marciuette, in decidious woods about Ann 

 Arbor. July, August and September. 



Superficially nearest to the descriptions of R. furcata and R. virescens. 

 Our plant has usually been referred to R. furcata, but this has no purple 

 tints according to European authors. When one finds single old plants 

 wdth much green, it is quite difficult to distinguish it from R. virescens; it 

 is to be separated by its dichotomously forked gills which are slightly de- 

 current and more persistently white, and by the slight acridity. The cuticle 

 is sometimes cracked toward the margin as in R. virescens, but its margin 

 is at first incurved while in R. virescens it is straight on the stem. Peck says 

 it has a good flavor after cooking, which destroys the slight acrid taste. 



21. Russula furcata (Pers.) Fr. 



(The forked Russula.) 



The plants in this country which used to be referred to R. furcata seem 



to have found a more appropriate resting place in Miss Banning's recent 



species R. variata. Whether we have the true R. furcata in Michigan is very 



uncertain; indeed the European mycologists are just as uncertain concerning 



10 



