308 Kauffman : The genus Cortixarius 



« 



of the pileus as it spreads, carries with it the shreds of the torn 

 veil in the form of a narrow, silky decoration. 



Lying adjacent to the cortina, and perhaps continuous with it, 

 on its outer side. Is a layer of tissue which envelops the whole 

 plant when young, or at least the part below the margin of the 

 pileus. This is called the universal veil. It is apparently not 

 present in all the subgenera of the genus, but when present, as in 

 C. aruiillatiis Fr., it is in most cases easily recognized. The uni- 

 versal veil is of somewhat different texture and composition in the 

 different species. In the subgenus Myxacium it is glutinous, and 

 gives the glutinous character to the plant. In some of the species 

 of the subgenus Telamonia, the hyphae which compose it are so 

 interwoven as to make it extremely tenacious and lasting in char- 

 acter. Where this is the casej it is quite persistent during the later 

 development of the plant, and is represented on the stem as a 

 series of more or less regular bands which encircle it ; or, the 

 developing pileus breaks away in such a manner as to leave the 

 part on the stem intact, with a resultant" sheath or "stocking 

 clothing the stem below, in which case the stem is said to be 

 peronate. In others — and this is usually the case in smaller 

 species — the universal veil is quite thin and therefore more evan- 

 escent in character. The result is that the remnants of the torn 

 veil soon disappear, or leave such a slight annulus that it is some- 

 times difficult to determine its existence. The resultant annulus 

 usually occupies a medium or low position on the stem. 



It is not quite clear what Fries means when in his generic de- 

 scription he says, *' Veil arachnoid, distinct from the cuticle o{ the 

 pileus, superficial."* He certainly could not have meant the 

 universal veil in the sense in which I have used the term. Then 

 the only interpretation possible, it seems, is to assume that he 

 meant the cortina, which is present in all the subgenera, and that 

 it was considered by him to be continued around the edge and 

 over the surface of the pileus, and, if so, identical to that extent 

 with the universal veil. 



t 



r 



for he says, " Plant fleshy, putrescent, with a cobwebby veil," with 



^ r^ ^ MB" ^^^ 1^^ _ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^ 



* Epicrisis 255. 1836. 



t Rabenhorst, Kryptogamen Flora, i : 576. 1883 [2d ed.]. 



