Kauffman: The genus Cortinarius 311 



equally true that placing it among the Inolomata defies the natu- 

 ral limits of that subgenus. No other course would then be left 

 but to erect another subgenus, and this is not desirable. Professor 

 Earle, it seems to me, takes the correct view when he separates 

 Telamoiiia from the others on the basis of a universal veil. 



Gills 



The structure and the texture of the gills afford no special 

 help to the student. Britzelmayr,* it is true, considered the 

 method of attachment of the gills to the stem as one of the most 

 valuable characters of the genus, but this does not seem to the 

 writer to be so important. Gillet, in his key, makes considerable 

 use of the serration of the gills ; it may be that this can be used to 

 some extent, but it is certainly a very uncertain characteristic. 



One of the most helpful characteristics, on the other hand, is 

 the color of the young gills. This may be white, olivaceous, vlo- 

 let, blue, red or yellow in the different species, and this character 

 was made use of by Fries to separate the subgenera into further 

 divisions. After the gills attain maturity, these colors are all 

 transformed into some shade of cinnamon. The final appearance 

 of the gills is due to an intermixture of the original color of the 

 gills, and that of the cinnamon-brown spores ; this makes it pos- 

 sible at times, even in old specimens, to determine what was the 

 color of the gills in the young plant. 



Spores 



The color of the young spores is more or less hyaline, or they 

 may be tinged with the same color as the gills. After maturity, 

 the mass always reflects predominantly the cinnamon-brown by 

 which we characterize the genus. Occasionally an ochraceous or 

 yellow tinge prevails, but one can hardly agree with Fries that 

 they are always " subochraceus supra chartam albam." The slight 

 variation in color can hardly be used as a specific character, and 

 Professor Peck no doubt was well aware of this when he refrained 

 from using it in a single description. 



The shape of the spores is more useful. They may vary all 

 the way from a fairly spherical spore to one whose length is three 



* 



Bolanisches Centralbktt 51 : 2. 



