166 STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



Gomphidius possesses a viscid or glutinous universal veil. Peck in 

 the Bull. N. Y. State Mus. Nat. Hist. 2 : 29-33, describes five species. 



Paxiilus involutus (Batsch.) Fr. Edible. This plant is quite common 

 in some places and is widely distributed. It occurs on the ground in 

 grassy places, in the open, or in woods, and on decaying logs or 

 stumps. The stem is central, or nearly so, when growing on the 

 ground, or eccentric when growing on wood, especially if growing 

 from the side of a log or stump. The plants are 5-7 cm. high, the 

 cap 3-7 cm. broad, and the stem 1-2 cm. in thickness. The plant 

 occurs from August to October. 



The pileus is convex to expanded, and depressed in the center. 

 In the young plant the margin is strongly inrolled, and as the pileus 



Figure 159. Paxiilus involutus. Cap and stem gray, olive-brown, reddish 

 brown or tawny (natural size). Copyright. 



expands it unrolls in a very pretty manner. The young plant is 

 covered with a grayish, downy substance, and when the inrolled 

 margin of the cap comes in contact with the gills, as it does, it presses 

 the gills against this down, and the unrolling margin is thus marked 

 quite prominently, sometimes with furrows where the pressure of the 

 gills was applied. The color of the pileus varies greatly. In the 

 case of plants collected at Ithaca and in North Carolina mountains 

 the young plant when fresh is often olive umber, becoming reddish 

 or tawny when older, the margin with a lighter shade. As Dr. Peck 

 states, " it often presents a strange admixture of gray, ochraceous, 

 ferruginous, and brown hues." The flesh is yellowish and changes 



