248 BRITISH FUNGI 



KEY TO THE GENERA 



A. Gills separating very easily from the flesh of the cap. 



Edge of cap persistently incurved ; gills Recurrent or adnato- 

 decurrent. Faxillus. 



B. Gills not separating readily from the flesh of the cap, 



* Stem furnished unth a volva, or with a xvell-formed interwoven ring. 



Volva present ; ring absent. Acetabularia. 



Volva absent ; ring present. Pholiota. 



** Volva and riiig both absent. 



I Stem central. 



Gills free. Plittcohts. 



Cap membranaceous ; gills deliquescent at maturity. Entire 

 fungus ephemeral. Bolhitius. 



Stem fleshy, fibrous externally ; cap fibrillose or scaly ; gills 

 sinuato-adnexed. Inocybe. 



Stem fleshy, fibrous externally ; cap smooth, viscid ; gills sinuato- 

 adnexed. " Hcbcloma. 



Stem cartilaginous externally ; edge of cap incurved at first ; 

 gills adnexed or adnate. Naucoria. 



Stem cartilaginous externally ; edge of cap straight at first ; gills 

 adnexed or adnate, often with a decurrent tooth. Galera. 



Stem cartilaginous externally; gills broadest behind, decurrent 

 or adnato-decurrent. Tubaria. 



Stem fibrous externally, fleshy ; gills adnate or decurrent. 



Flammula. 



Universal veil cobweb-like, not forming an interwoven ring, 

 often collapsing and forming one or more ring-like zones on the 

 stem ; stem fibrous, fleshy. Cortinariiis. 



f f Stem excenfric, or absent. 



Crcpidotus. 



NOTES ON THE GENERA 



Paxillus 



The most dominant feature of the present genus is the ease with 

 which the gills separate from the flesh of the cap when shghtly 

 rubbed, and in many instances the separation takes place spon- 

 taneously when the fungus is old. The next point of importance 

 is the persistently incurved edge of the cap. The edge of the cap is 

 incurved during the early stage in a great many other fungi, but it 

 straightens out as the cap expands. There is a considerable range 

 of relative development in the different species. The stem may be 

 central, excentric, lateral or entirely absent. The gills are always 

 more or less decurrent, sometimes deeply so. Some of the species 

 are quite large, others small. 



The counterpart, structurally, of this genus is Clitocybc, in the 

 Leucosporcce. 



