I 



9 



The Nyc-tali are miuute mushrooms parasitic on other mushrooms. 



In OmpliaHa, the plants are (juite small, with membranaceous caps, 

 gills truly decurrent, and cartilaginous stems. 



The Mycene;e are generally very small, slender, and fragile, usually 

 cn'spitose, with bell-shaped caps, sinuate gills, not docurrent, and car- 

 tilaginous stems. In some species the ]ilants exude a milky juice. 



In the gcnei-a Panus, Lentinus, Leuzites, Sehizophylluni, Xerotus, and 

 Trogia, the plants are leathery or cori.ceous, dry and tough, and though 

 none are recorded as poisonous, they are too tough to be edible. 



The mushrooms having pink or salmon colored spores, section Rhodo- 

 sporhii, form the smallest of the four primary grouj^s of Agaricini, the 

 number of known species not exceeding 400, and most of these are taste- 

 less, or of disagreeable odor, while some are recorded as unwholesome. 



The species are pink-gilled when mature, though often white or whitish 

 when very young. 



The recorded edible species are found in Volvaria, Clitopilus, and 

 Pluteus. The Volvarise are characterized by the very large and perfect 

 volva which wraps the base of the stem in loose folds, the ringless stem, 

 and the pink, soft, liquescent gills, which are free and rounded behind. 

 The cap is not warted : in some species it is viscid, and in honihychms, 

 recorded by several authors as edible, and by some as doubtful, it is cov- 

 ered wdth a silk}' down. 



In Clitopilus the odor of the edible species is more or less mealy. The 

 cap is fleshy, and the margin at first involute. Two edible species which 

 closely resemble each other — viz., Clitopilus prunulus, " Plum mushroom," 

 and Clitopilus oi'cella, " Sweetbread mushroom," — are highly recom- 

 mended for their delicacy of flavor. 



In Leptonia most of the species are small, thin, and brittle, correspond- 

 ing with Mycena in the w'hite-spored series, and with Psathyra and 

 Psathyrella in the dark-spored series. 



Eecilia corresponds with Omphalia. Claudopus corresponds Avith 

 Pleurotos in its habit of growth and lateral stem, difl^ering in the color 

 of the spores. 



Annularia includes only a few small species having a ringed stem, no 

 volva, and free pink gills. Cooke says of this subgenus that no British 

 species are known. 



The recorded species of Pluteus have their habitat on tree stumps, 

 sawdust, or upon fallen timber. One species, Pluteus cervhnis, is recorded 

 as edible, but not specially commended. Of Entoloma, Worthington 

 Smith says, " It is allied to Tricholoma, though most of the species are 

 thinner and often brittle. It agrees also in structure with Hebeloma and 

 Hj'pholoma." None of the species are recorded as having value as escu- 

 lents. 



The genus Bolbitius is described by Cooke as a small genus inter- 

 mediate between Agaricus and Coprinus on the one side, and Coprinus 

 and Cortiuarius on the other. The species are small and ephemeral. 



