A MUSHROOM PARASITIC ON AXOTHER :MrSHROO:N[. 127 



myself in 1!J02.''' A second puluication of the liost was in 1905 

 bv Miss Shernianf being an aceonnt of stndies of the host phiiits 

 bv .Mr. McKenna and herself in the vicinity of Madison, Wis- 

 consin. Mr. Mclvenna recognized Coprinus atramentarius as 

 one of the hosts, and Miss Sherman had added from her own ob- 

 servations a second species of Coprinns (C comatus) as host. The 

 plant has also been collected bv Mr. O. L. Taylor, of St. Panl, 

 Minnesota, October, 1889, on Maniton Island, White Bear Lake, 

 ^Minnesota. It is thns of qnite wide distribution, though it does 

 not seem to have been very often found. This seems a little sin- 

 gular since its hosts are very common and widely distributed. 

 Its a])i)earanre in certain years is curious. It was found at 

 Ithaca, X. Y., in the autuuin of 1900 and l!H)l ; the latter year 

 it was rather abundant in two localities. In 1889 it was found 

 by Mr. Taylor on Maniton Island, Minnesota, and in 1900 by 

 ^McKenna at Madison, Wisconsin, and 1904 at the same place by 

 ]\riss Sherman. 



There seeuis to have been some difference of opinion as to 

 the genus in which this mushroom parasite of Coprinus should be 

 placed, since Dr. Peck i)laced it in Panaeolus, and the present 

 writer placed it in Stropharia. The presence of a distinct veil 

 in the young stages which leaves a ring on the base of the stem 

 similar to that of Copriiuis afra)iicnhirius, together with the 

 l>urple brown color of the spores, led me to place it in Stropharia. 

 This also accounts for the fact that I overlooked the earlier de- 

 scri|)tion of the species by Dr. Peck. There are a nmnber of the 

 purple l)rown s])ored agarics in which the gills look black, or the 

 spores on ])a])er may look lilack, but under the microscope they 

 show the })urple tinge rather than the black color. This is true 

 of the connnon mushrooms (Agaricus canipestris) and other 

 species of the genus Agaricus. The plant generically shows 

 some relationship to the genus Agaricus, but the attached gills 

 would indicate the nearer relationship to other genera. The 

 fact that the uiargin of the pileus is appendiculate with 



*Jour. Mycol., 8: 118. 1902. 



tHost plants of Panaeolus epimyces Peck. Jour. Mycol., 11: 167- 

 169, PI. 80, 1905. 



