292 MUSHROOMS, EDIBLE AND OTHERWISE 



silky-fibrillose, disk sometimes covered with minute squamules, shreds of the 

 partial veil attached to the margin when expanded. Flesh very thick, becoming 

 abruptly thin toward the margin, white, dingy-yellowish in age, soon soft and 

 spongy. Gills rather narrow, 7 mm. broad, sinuate-adnexed, whitish at first, then 

 pale cinnamon, crowded, edge serratulate and paler. Stem 6-8 cm. long, with a 

 slight bulb when young, from whose margin arises the dense partial veil ; white 

 and very pruinate above the veil, which remains as clingy fibrils stained by the 

 spores ; spongy and soft within, becoming somewhat hollow. Veil white with an 

 olive tinge. Spores, 10-12x5.5-6.5^, granular within, almost smooth. Odor agreeable. 



Kauffman says this resembles C. herpeticus, except that the gills when young 

 are never violet-tinged. 



I found this plant in Poke Hollow, near Chillicothe. It was unknown to me 

 and I sent it to Dr. Kauffman of Michigan University to determine. I found it 

 under beech trees, during October and November. 



Cortinarius varius. Fr. 

 The Variable Cortinarius. Edible. 



Varius Variable, so called because it varies in stature, its color and habit 

 are unchangeable. The pileus is about two inches broad ; compact, hemispherical, 

 then expanded ; regular, slightly viscid, thin margin at first incurved, sometimes 

 with fragments of the web-like veil adhering. 



The gills are notched, thin, crowded, quite entire, purplish, at length clay- 

 colored or cinnamon. 



The stem is solid, short, covered with threads, whitish, bulbous, from one and 

 a half to two and a half inches long. 



The plant is quite variable in size but constant in color. It is found in woods. 

 I found specimens at Salem, Ohio, and at Bowling Green, Ohio. September to 

 November. 



Cortinarius cccnrfesccns. Fr. 

 The Azure-Blue Cortinarius. Edible. 



Caerulescens, azure-blue. Pileus fleshy, convex, expanded, even, viscid, azure- 

 blue, flesh soft, not changing color when bruised. 



The gills are attached to the stem, slightly rounded behind, crowded, quite 

 entire, at first of a pure dark blue, then rusty from the spores. 



The stem is solid, attenuated upward, firm, bright violet, becoming pale. 



