BKPOBT OF THE STATE BOTANIST. 173 



The stem is usually rather short and stout. It is thickest at 

 the base and gradually tapers upward. It is firm and more or 

 less adorned with longitudinal fibrils. It is generally paler than 

 the cap. Its center is somewhat softer in texture than the 

 exterior parts. 



Cap two to five inches broad, stem one and a half to three 

 inches long, one- half to one inch thick. 



The usual habitat is among fallen leaves in woods where it 

 appears in September and October. I have never seen it in fields. 

 It is a rare species with us. It sometimes grows in clusters. 



Some of the French mycologists do not admit this among the 

 edible species, but English writers speak highly of it. Cordier 

 says it is bad ; Richon and Roze say that its flavor is scarcely 

 agreeable, and that it should be placed among the suspected 

 species. Quelet asserts that he has eaten it often and found it 

 good, but that sometimes it is indigestible and nauseous. Eoqucs 

 classes it as edible. BuUiard says " it is very agreeable to the 

 taste." According to Badham it requires very little cooking and 

 the flesh is perhaps lighter of digestion than that of any other. 

 Stevenson quotes it as edible and very good, with a somewhat 

 pungent taste and an odor of curd cheese. Cooke regards it as 

 one of his favorite mushrooms, to which he gives special atten- 

 tion, and he thinks that no person, having a practical knowledge 

 of its qualities, would place it among the suspected species. 



Clitocybe media Peck. 

 Inteemediate Clitocybe. 



Plate 33. Figs. 1 to 7. 



Pileus at first convex, becoming flat or slightly depressed, dry, 

 dark grayish-brown or smoky-brown, the margin often wavy or 

 irregular, the flesh white, taste mild ; lamella? broad, subdistant, 

 adnate or decurrent, whitish, the interspaces somewhat venose ; 

 stem not at all or but slightly thickened at the base, colored like 

 or a little paler than the pileus; spores elliptical, white, .0003 in. 

 long. 



The Intermediate clitocybe is very similar to the Clouded clito- 

 cybe in size and shape. Indeed, it might easily be mistaken for 

 a dark colored variety of that species, but when examined closely 

 it will be seen that the gills are not so close together as in that 



