Ill 



NOTES ON SOME SPECIES OF TRICEOLOMA NOT 



EASILY DISTINGUISHED FEOM EACH OTHEE. 



By the Rev. Canon Dd Port, M.A. 



When one has found specimens of species somewhat similar in appearance to 

 some others, it is not always easy with no other help than that of descriptions, 

 however accurate these may bs, to assign to a specimen its specific name, but 

 when one sees specimens of all the allied species, then the salient points in the 

 descriptions of each stand out quite cleariy and one wonders how one can have 

 ever doubted before. 



I was fortunate enough last year to meet with some six or seven species of 

 Tricholoma about each of which I had previously had doubts as to which species 

 each particular specimen was to be referred. Though such doubts may never 

 have troubled the more experienced mycolotrists in whose presence I am speaking, 

 perhaps it may interest even them to hear detailed some of the marked character- 

 istics of plants in which they cannot but be interested ; and they may too, most 

 probably, be able to correct any erroneous statements that I may make. 



These species are Agaricus .fiavobrunneus, A. albnbrunneus, A. ustalU, A. pes- 

 sundatus, A. starts, A. imbricatui, and A. vaccinus. The last two, A. imbricatus, 

 Fr., and A. vaccinus, Pert., stand out conspicuously from the others in that they 

 are never viscid. This most import nt feature is sometimes overlooked, and a 

 beginner does not always readily distinguish between a viscid pileus become dry, 

 and a dry pileus wetted with rain or mist. The dry pileus however never has bits 

 of grass or fragments of earth really sticking to it, and the viscid pileus is very 

 seldom found without some foreign substance attached to it. 



Aff. vaccinus, Pers. (the colour of what in Norfolk we call a red cow— a sort 

 of brownish red) differs very widely from Arj. imbricatus : it is a much more slen- 

 der plant; the whole pileus, disc and all, is fluccose, and it is very much redder : 

 its stem is hollow, while that of Ag. imbricatus, Fr., is solid. The stem of this 

 latter, however, varies much in different specimens. Fries says from 1|— 2 inches 

 in some specimens, to 3 inches in others. 



Ag. albobrunneus, Pers., is not in the least like Ag. vaccinus, and though it 

 may at first sight be mistaken for Ag. imbricatus, its viscid pileus with leaves, 

 pieces of straw, or grass always sticking to it at once distinguishes it from its 

 very dry relation ; the streaks on the pileus of Ag. alhobrunneus are innate, while 

 the other plant is torn into small stales in all parts but the disc. The smell can 

 be no safe guide in this case for Fries says of it -'odore nullo," while Secretan (in 

 describing what Mr. Berkeley considers to be this plant under the title of Ag. 

 compactus), says of it " I'odeur est tres fetide." I find its smell very strong and 

 exactly like that of Poluporui sqitamosus. 



Ag. fiavobrunneus, Fr., is not easily distinguished at first sight from this last ; 

 its stem does not always bear that long ventricose form which is generally one of 



