972 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



forming dense tufts. In such cases the caps are apt to be 

 irregular and the stems narrower toward the base. They occur 

 in August and September. 



Hypholoma aggregatum sericeum Pk. 



SILKY TUFTED HYPHOLOMA 

 PLATE 79, FIG, 8-14 



Pileus fleshy, thin, oval when young, soon becoming campanu- 

 late or convex, silky fibrillose, white becoming grayish white 

 with age, flesh white, taste mild; lamellae thin, close, adnate or 

 slightly rounded behind, concealed by the veil in the young plant 

 and then white, brown with a purplish tint when mature; stem 

 long, flexuous, hollow, striate at the top, white; spores purplish 

 brown, elliptic, .0003 of an inch long, .00016 broad. 



The silky tufted hypholoma is so closely related to the tufted 

 hypholoma, Hypholoma aggregatum Pk., that it ia 

 considered a mere variety of it. It differs from it in its larger 

 size, in the entire absence of scales or spots from its cap and in 

 the broader attachment of its gills to the stem. It is also re- 

 lated to the European forest hypholoma, Hypholoma 

 silvestre Gill., from which it differs in the color of the cap 

 and in the absence from the cap of the broad brown or blackish 

 scales of that species. It has some points of resemblance to 

 Candolle's hypholoma, H. candolleanum, and to the dingy 

 white hypholoma, H. 1 e u c o t e p h r u m, but it is to be kept 

 separate from these because it is not hygrophanous. 



The cap is quite white when young, but with advancing age it 

 assumes a more dingy or grayish hue and gradually becomes 

 more broadly convex. Its surface is furnished with white silky 

 fibrils which are suggestive of its varietal name. The margin 

 is often wavy or irregular because of its crowded mode of 

 growth and before maturity it is usually appendiculate with 

 fragments of the veil. The flesh is white but when the cap is 

 cut through vertically a narrow watery streak may sometimes 

 be seen along the part next the gills. The gills are concealed at 

 first by the copious white flocculent or webby veil. They are 



