PAPERS OX BIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE 121 



NOTES OX ILLINOIS MUSHKOOMS 



^V. B. McDoUGALL, UxiYEESITY OF IlLIXOIS 

 CBEPID0TU6 CIXXABAEUXUS 



This pretty little species has a bright scarlet or cinna- 

 bar-red, nearly sessile, cap which is usually only from I2 

 to 2 cm. broad. The gills are rather broad, not close to- 

 gether, cinnabar-red in color and brighter red or scarlet 

 on the edge. The stem when present at all is very short, 

 only 1 or 2 mm. long, and lateral. The plant grows on 

 decaying logs in woods but seems to be very rare. It was 

 first collected near Ann Arbor, Michigan, by an instiiictor 

 in the L'niversity of Michigan, and sent to Peck about 

 1895. Peck (4) described it and named it, and it was not 

 heard of again until it was rediscovered at Ann Arbor by 

 Professor Kauffman some twenty years later. Kauff- 

 man's collection was made in Xovember and the cold 

 weather delayed the ripening of the spores to such an 

 extent that he was unable to obtain a spore print. He 

 found, however, that under the microscope the spores 

 showed a slight tinge of red, and for this reason he ex- 

 pressed a doubt as to whether the plant really is a crepi- 

 dotus or whether it should be placed in the genus Claudo- 

 pus which is a pink spored genus. (2). 



On June 7, 1919, I was fortunate enough to find a nice 

 collection of this species in a woods near Urbana, Illinois. 

 The specimens obtained were in vers* good condition and 

 I succeeded in making satisfactory spore prints. Lender 

 the microscope the spores do have a pinkish tinge as 

 Kautfman found, but in mass they are distinctly pale 

 ochre or almost clay color. This proves that Peck was 

 right, as likewise was Kauffman. in placing the species 

 in the genus Crepidotus. 



PLEUEOTUS SUBPALMATUS (fIGS. 1 AXD 2) 



Kaulfman's (2) description of this fungus is as fol- 

 lows : 



"Pileus 3-5 cm, broad, fleshy, convex-plane, obtuse, the 

 cuticle gelatinous, coarsely reticulated and separable, 



