November, 1906] Mycolugical Bulletin Nos. 69 and 70 275 



MYCENA HAEMATOPA, PERS. 

 M. E. Hard. 



This is one of the prettiest specimens found in the woods at this 

 season of the year. It is quite common about Chillicothe. The stems 

 and caps are ahke tender and will amply pay to pick them. They 

 grow on well decayed logs and stumps. They grow in tufts or groups. 

 No one will experience any difficulty in recognizing it from the cut. Its 

 dense cespitose habit, the red juice which exudes from the stem, and 

 the denticulate margin of the cap will assist the student in recognizing it. 

 It is called "haematopa" or bloody-footed Mycena because a deep blood 

 red juice exudes from the stem. This also more or less pervades the 

 cap. The cap is fleshy, one inch broad, conic or bell-shaped, somewhat 

 umbonate, obtuse, whitish to flesh color, with more or less dull red, 

 even or slightly striate at the margin, the margin extending beyond the 

 gills and is denticulate or toothed. 



The gills are attached to the stem, often with a decuurrent tooth, 

 whitish and tinged with a dull red. 



The stem is two to four inches long, firm, hollow, sometimes smooth, 

 sometimes powdered with a whitish soft hairy down, the' color the same 

 as the pileus, yielding a dark red juice which gives the name to the 

 species. 



The color varies quite a little in these plants. This is due to some 

 plants having more of the red juice than others. It is found on decayed 

 stumps and logs in damp places from August to October. 



FUNGI IN THE ARTS. 

 Geo. F. Atkinson. Cornell University. 



A rumber of different species of mushrooms have been employed in 

 the manufacture of useful articles. Their use for such purposes, however, 

 was more common in the past than at present, and it is largely, therefore, 

 a matter of historic interest at the present time, though some are still em- 

 ployed for purposes of this kind. 



Tinder mushroom or amadou. — The Polyporus fomentaruis, or "tinder 

 mushroom,'' or, as it is sometimes called, "German tinder," was once em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of tinder. The outer hard coat was removed 

 and the central portion, consisting almost entirely of the tube system of 

 several years' growth, was cut into strips and beaten to a soft condition. 

 In this form it was used as tinder for striking fire. 



The inner portion was also used in making caps, chest-protectors, 

 and similar articles. A process now in vogue in some parts of Germany, 

 is to steam the fruit bodies, remove the outer crust, and then, by ma- 

 chinery constructed for the purpose, shave the fruit body into a long, 

 thin strip by revolving it against a knife in much the same way that 

 certain woods are shaved into thin strips for the manufacture of baskets, 

 plates, etc. Some articles of clothing made from this fungus material 

 are worn by peasants in certain parts of Europe. 



Mushrooms for razor strops. — The beech polyporus (P. betulinus), 

 several centuries ago was used for razor strops. The fruit body after 

 being dried was cut into strips, glued upon a stretcher, and smoothed 

 down with pumice stone (Asa Gray Bull. 7:18, 1000.) The sheets of 

 the weeping Merulius (See Fig. 189). were also employed for the same 

 purpose, as were also She sheets of "punk" formed from mycelium filling 

 in crack.s in old logs or between boards in lumber piles. Sometimes 



