COLLYBIA. 



IV. TEPHEOPHANAE. 



* Gills crowded, very narrow. 



Collybia rancida. Fr. 



Smell strong. Pileus 1-2 in. across, flesh thin, carti- 

 laginous and tough ; convex then plane, broadly and obtusely 

 umbonate, glabrous, even, not hygrophanous but viscid after 

 being wet for some time, greyish-black, sooty, becoming 

 pale, covered at first with a delicate whitish bloom ; gills 

 free, crowded, narrow but ventricose, dark grey, slightly 

 pruinose; stem 3-6 in long, 2 lines thick, equal, glabrous, 

 even, livid, hollow, rigid, straight, with a long, fusiform, 

 downy rooting base ; spores elliptical, 7-10 x 4-5 /*. 



Agaricus (Collybia) rancidus, Fries, Epicr., p. 95; Cke.,. 

 Hdbk., p. 72; Cke., Illustr., pi. 153A. 



On trunks and stumps, also on the ground among 

 moss, &c. 



Smell strong, like fresh meal but somewhat rancid. 



Fries describes a form of this species as follows : 



Stem 2 in. long, with a short rooting base. Pileus bullate, 

 wavy, 2| in. across, depressed round the umbo, and outside 

 the depression bounded by an elevated ridge, almost black ; 

 gills linear, veined and connected by veins, sooty, powdered 

 with white. (Fries.) 



Distinguished among the strong-smelling species by the 

 long rooting stem. 



Pileus convex-conical when young, at length, nearly quite 

 plane, obtusely umbonate, more or less rugose and some- 

 what glutinous, smooth, generally possessing considerable 

 toughness and elasticity; in regard to colour it is very 

 irregular, being whitish, ash-colour, brown, smoke-gre}-, 

 reddish, olivaceous, greenish, or even, according to Schu- 

 macher, sometimes yellow, the most frequent is an olivaceous 

 and greenish hue. Flesh very thin, white. Lamella rather 

 distant, white, fixed, rather broad, entire, mostly 4 in a set. 

 Stipes generally solid, rarely with a small spongy cavity, 

 4-8 in. high, firm, smooth, slightly twisted, pale fawn-colour, 

 or tinged with green, gradually tapering upwards. Root 

 fusiform, 4-12 in. in length or more, brownish, tough. The-' 



VOL. III. L 



