SPECIES OF PAXILLUS. 31 
or sordid-buff to ferruginous or brownish-ochraceous, the margin at 
first strongly involute and covered with a dense grayish tomentose vil- 
losity, flesh grayish-white or pallid ; lamellze close, decurrent, branched 
and anastomosing behind, whitish, then yellowish or subferruginous, 
becoming reddish-brown or fuscous where cut or bruised, the inter- 
spaces venose ; stem equal or slightly thickened at the base, central 
or sometimes eccentric, glabrous, solid ; spores elliptical, .0003 to 
.0004 in. long, .0002 to .00025 in. broad. 
Plant 2 to 4 in. high, pileus 2 to 4 in. broad, stem 4 to 8 lines 
thick. 
In woods on the ground and on decaying wood. Common in the 
Adirondack mountains and not rare in the mixed woods of all our 
hilly districts. August to November. 
This species is said, by Fries and other authors, to be edible. but 
I have not tested its edible qualities. It is said to be held in high 
estimation as an article of food in Russia. It is somewhat solitary in 
its mode of growth and prefers a soil chiefly composed of vegetable 
mold. Damp shaded mossy banks and deep hemlock and spruce 
woods are favorite habitats for it. It sometimes grows on much de- 
cayed stumps and old prostrate trunks of trees. In such cases the 
stem is sometimes eccentric, but when growing on the ground 
it is almost always central, though Fries places the species in the 
tribe Tapinia. Neither do the spores of our plant agree well with 
the dimensions given in the Handbook of British Fungi, still it does 
not appear to me to be specifically distinct. The pileus is generally 
regular in outline and, when expanded, bears upon its margin short, 
distant and somewhat irregular striations. The hairiness of the 
margin is more distinct in the young plants. The color of the pileus 
is not very decided, being somewhat variable, and a peculiar mixture 
of gray, ochraceous, ferruginous and brown. ‘The surface is some- 
times opaque, sometimes shining. The lamellee and often other parts 
of the plant change color when cut or bruised. In drying, the 
lamelle of this and also of the preceding and the two following 
species frequently assume a smoky-brown or blackish hue. 
Paxillus atrotomentosus Ff’. 
Dark-Downy Paxillus. 
Pileus compact, convex, then expanded or centrally depressed, 
varying from subglabrous to scabrous-granulose, sometimes tomen- 
tose-hairy on the disk, often minutely rivulose, ochraceous-red, fer- 
ruginous-brown or reddish-brown, the margin sometimes paler, flesh 
