1019^ The Hydxums of IN^orth Caeolixa 193 



viduals. Cap very irregular, warted, pitted and channeled, usually 

 depressed In center ; surface with a fine, plush-like tomentum which 

 is usually collapsed in the central region, in age or on exposure to 

 rain, becoming smooth all over ; color of margin whitish to light buff, 

 changing toward the center to a deep reddish brown or gray brown, 

 and often with a chocolate tint. The, lighter color may extend far 

 toward the center, or it may be confined to a distinct marginal zone. 

 Flesh of two parts a very soft, spongy, superficial layer that is several 

 mm. thick, and beneath this, next to the spines, a much firmer and 

 deeper brown layer. The odor is penetrating and exactly like that 

 of a pig-pen, resembling somewhat the drug fenugreek, but more 

 disagreeable. It is faint when fresh, much stronger when dried. 

 Taste slight, not acrid or sour. 



Stem uneven, 1.5-i cm. long, varying greatly in size, 0.5-2.3 cm. 

 thick, usually larger and amorphous below, color of cap, the surface 

 composed of a thick, spongy layer, the center of a hard, almost woody 

 tissue that is deep wood brown to almost black. 



Spines white their whole length when perfectly fresh, soon turning 

 a light gray in older parts and, as drying proceeds, through a light 

 clear salmon or directly to a light grayish salmon or grayish brown; 

 they are crowded, very slender, and about 3-1 nun. long. 



Spores (of Xo. 830) white, subspherical, echinulate, 3.3-4iM or a 

 few oblong, up to ■i-.Gz-i long. 



Common among leaves in deciduous woods. The species is easily 

 distinguished from all others by the color, the strong odor and the 

 absence of a peppery taste. 



I am satisfied that our Chapel Hill i)]ants are the same as the 

 mountain ones named by Atkinson H. imtidiun (Mushrooms, etc., p. 

 199), and in this opinion Beardslee agrees. Banker, however, while 

 thinking our plants either H. amicus or near, does not believe H. 

 putidum to be the same. He says in a letter of January 7, 1915 : "In 

 the darker portions, combined with the tendency to become glabrate 

 these approach P. pullus (Schaeff.), but in other respects they seem 

 near P. amicus (Quel)." It is certain that this is the plant listed as 

 H. graveolens by Curtis and it is very likely included in Fries' con- 

 ception of that species. 



