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of some species considerable emphasis is placed on the rugosity of the stem. It is 

 not infrequent to read that the stem is reticulately rugose. Admitted that it is 

 more strongly marked in some species than in others, yet it appears to us that if a 

 lens is employed, as it often is by an enthusiastic mycologist, he will probably 

 grow sceptical as to whether there is such a thing as a species of Russula with a 

 perfectly even stem, free from striae in all ages and conditions. If so, they are, at 

 least, more rare than absolutely rugose stems. 



Internal changes of colour, or discoloration of the flesh, seems to be a 

 valuable character, where it assumes a positive and definite tone, and does not 

 bear the impress of caprice, as often appears to be the case in externally coloured 

 stems. Russula nigricans, R. densifolia, R. semicrema, R. deeolorans, R. rhytipes, 

 and some others seem to depend almost for their strongest features on the colour 

 or discoloration of the flesh. This is the most redeeming feature in R. du Portii. 

 It seems to be characteristic of R. Barlce, and also of a species as yet undescribed, 

 but which we call provisionally R. ochroviridis. Whether it takes a positive and 

 definite form in R. vesca is not yet determined. It is not so liable to mutation, 

 according to a wet or dry season, as taste or odour, and hence, all things con- 

 sidered, is more reliable. 



The colour of the flesh under the cuticle appears to have the confidence of 

 some mycologists who have little or no faith in the external coloration of Agaricini 

 at all. This seems rather anomalous, but it may be true. It is generally con- 

 sidered a good test of R. enietica, R. consobrina. R. cyanoxantha, and perhaps to a 

 certain extent of R. furcata, as well as R. cutefracta. This subcuticular colour is 

 not always the same as that of the cuticle, and then perhaps even more to be 

 trusted, as in R. cutefracta, R. furcata, and R. rhytipes. 



Considerable emphasis is often placed upon a separable or adnate cuticle, 

 but we doubt much if this is not relative rather than absolute, and very much 

 fluctuates with a wet or dry season. True, the cuticle may always be raised with 

 much greater facility in some species than in others, and always most freely at the 

 margin. Here is a little work still left for the microscope to determine whether 

 there is in all cases a distinct outer layer of cuticular cells, or whether they are 

 represented in the adnate pellicle by a cell structure continuous with the sub- 

 cuticular cells. If the distinct cuticular cells are in all cases a superimposed 

 layer, parting away with more or less facility, than the reliance to be placed 

 upon a separable pellicle must be very small, fluctuating according to external 

 circumstances. 



Relative again, and not absolute, must be regarded the viscidity of the 

 pellicle. Granted that in some instances it is most decided under any, and almost 

 every, condition of humidity, as we presume it must be in Russula cruentata. 

 Quel., where it is said to resemble Hygrophorus limacinus, but this is an extreme 

 case. In damp situations, and persistently wet weather, it can be imagined that 

 the cuticle of the species in the section Rigidw will in any of them exhibit fragments 

 of grass and leaves adhering to them witli some tenacity, as if they had experienced 

 their soft moments. A distinguished and esteemed Woolhopean not infrequently 

 has been known to expeiiuient on the conversion of a dry cuticle to a viscid one. 



