13 



but does not commend it. It is spoken of as " an unattractive funp^us 

 wbi("h usurps in the woods the place that mi^ht well be occupied by 

 something better." In this opinion I fully concur. 



L. to7')ninosi/s, " Wooli/ Lactarius,'^ sometimes called the '^'^ Colic. LacUi- 

 rins^'' has been termed acrid and poisonous by Badham. Cordier and 

 Letellier, on the other hand, say that it can be eaten with impunity when 

 cooked. Gillet declares it deleterious and even dangerous in the raw 

 state, constituting a very strong and drastic purgative. One author 

 states that, although it does not constitute an agreeable article of food, 

 it is eaten in some i)arts of France and in Russia. Considering the difter- 

 ences of opinion which exist with regard to this and other extremely 

 acrid species, it would seem the part of prudence for persons with deli- 

 cate stomachs to avoid the use of very acrid species, for, though the ac- 

 ridity may be expelled by cooking, there would seem to be no necessity 

 for risking unpleasant or dangerous results while the range of unques- 

 tionably wholesome and agreeable species is sufficiently wide to satisfy 

 the most enthusiastic mycophagist. 



AGARICINI. 



Ledcospori (spores white or yellowish). 



Armillaria Fries. Cooke places Armillaria in the order Agaricini, genus 

 Agarlcus, making of it a sub-genuB. Saccardo, in taking it out of Agar- 

 icus, elevates it to the position of a separate genus. The name Armillaria 

 is derived from a Greek word, meaning a ring or bracelet, referring to its 

 ringed stem. 



In the plants of the Armillaria the veil is partial in infancy, attaching 

 the edge of the cap to the upper part of the stem ; the stem furnished 

 with a ring. Below the ring the veil is concrete with the stem, forming 

 scurfy scales upon it. The gills are broadly adnexed. In abnormal 

 specimens the ring is sometimes absent, or appearing only in scales, run- 

 ning down the stem. Spores white. The species are few ; eight are re- 

 corded as growing in the United States. Cooke describes twelve species 

 found in Great Britain. 



Plate VI. 



Ag. (Armillaria) melleus Vahl. '■'■ Honey -Coloi'eH Armillaria." 



Edible. 



Cap fleshy, rather thin at the margin, at first subcorneal, then slightly 

 rounded, or nearly plane, clothed with minute hairy tufts : margin some- 

 times striate, color varying, usually a pale-yellowish or honey color or light 

 reddish brown ; tiesh whitish. Gills whitish or paler than the cap, grow- 

 ing mealy with the shedding of the profuse white spores, and often 

 spotted with reddish-brown stains, adnate, ending with decurrent tooth. 

 Stem fibrillose, elastic, stuffed or hollow, ringed, and adorned with floccose 

 scales which often disappear with age ; in some varieties distinctly bulbous 



