AGAEICINI. 



231 



Gen. 12. 



NYCTALIS, Fr. Gen. Hymen. 



Fig. 54 



Veil universal, floccoso-pruinose ; 

 pileus in the British species fleshy 

 and pminose or pulverulent ; stem 

 confluent with the hymenophore ; gills 

 broad, simple, unequal, thick, fleshy, 

 juicy, or suhgelatinous, edge obtuse, 

 not descending on the stem. 



(Fig. 54.; 



Hab. The British species are small 

 and parasitic on other Agarics. 



This genus consists of fleshy putrescent 

 Fungi. Some species grow in subterranean 

 passages. 



652. Nyctalis asterophora. Fr. " Star-bearing Nyctalis." 



Pileus somewhat fleshy, conical, then hemispherical, cuticle 

 flocculoso-pruinose, breaking up into a fawn-coloured stratum; 

 stem stuff'ed, pruinose, then brownish, twisted; gills adnate, dis- 

 tant, rather forked, straight, dingy. — Fr.Epicr.p. 371. Bull. t. 

 516,/ 1. Sturm, t. 26. 



On. dead Eussula nigricans. Common. [Mid. & Up. Carolina.] 



Stem scarcely exceeding | an in., J-l lin. thick, equal, twisted, at first 

 whitish and pruinose, then brownish. Pileus white when young, papillate, 

 then cracking, pulverulent and fawn-coloured. Gills thick. The powder of 

 the pileus consists of the stellate bodies, constituting the spores in the genus 

 Alsterophora. Diameter '00055 in. Spores '0001 X "00005 in. 



(Fig. 54, natural size.) 



653. 



Nyctalis parasitica. Fr. "Parasitic Nyctalis." 



Pileus somewhat fleshy, conical, then expanded, unecjual, cuticle 

 persistent, grey, pruinose ; stem minutely fistulose, flocculoso- 

 villous, whitish ; gills adnate, thick, distant, at length contorted 

 and anastomosing, brownish. — Fr. Epicr. p. 372. Bull. t. 574,/. 

 2. Sow.t.o-^^. Berk. Outl.t.ld,/. 2. Eng.Fl. y. p. 52. Berk, 

 exs. no. 130. 



On Russula adusta and B. fastens. 



Pileus I in. broad, conico-campanulate, silky, sub-carnose, somewhat 

 irregular, grey, with a slight tinge of umber at the apex, flesh dark ; gills 

 darker than the pileus, paler at the edges, thick, distant, somewhat forked 

 and anastomosing, connected by veins, broader towards the apex, slightly 

 adnate, ventricose; stem 1-2 in. high, 1 line thick, thickest downwards, very 

 silky, especially at the base, crisp, dark within. Odour like Polyjporus squa- 

 mosus, — M. J. -B. 



