262 BRITISH FUN(;i 



B. niveus. — Cap about i in. across, obtusely umbonate, striate, 

 pure white ; gills free, becoming salmon-colour ; stem about 4 in. 

 long, bulbous, shining white. 



In conservatories. " 



B. tener. — Cap J-i in. long, permanently conical, yellowish white ; 

 gills salmon-colour ; stem i|-3 in. long, clavato-bulbous, white. 



Among grass. 



** Stem yelloxv. 



B. flavidiis. — Cap 1-2 in. across, glutinous, conical, then ex- 

 panded, striate, pale 3'ellow ; gills yellow, then dusk\' brown ; 

 stem about 2 in. high, yellow. 



On dunghills, etc. 



B. hoUoni. — Cap about i in. across, \'iscid, e\en, then the margin 

 becomes grooved, yellow, disc darker and subdepressed ; gills 

 yellow, then brow^n ; stem 2-3 in. long, yellowish, at first floccose. 

 Deliquescing. 



On dung, amongst leaves and dung, etc. 



B. fragilis (PI. XXVI, fig. 3). — Cap about i in. across, viscid, 

 striate, somewhat umbonate, yellow, becoming pale ; gills pale 

 cinnamon ; stem 2-3 in. long, smooth, straight, yellow. 



More slender than B. holtoni, and drying and becoming papery, 

 not deliquescing. 



On dung or amongst grass. 



B. iiinbans. — Cap 5-1 in. across, l^ecoming expanded, yellow ; 

 gills becoming salmon-cokjur ; stem T-\-2l in. long, straight, 

 shining, yellowish. 



Among grass, etc. 



Inocybe 



Cap symmetrical, flesh thin, fibrillose and becoming more or less 

 cracked in lines from the disc to the margin, or broken up into 

 scales which may be depressed or spreading, dry or rarely slightly 

 viscid ; attachment of gills varying from adnate to free, brownish 

 or dingy ; spores pale brown, smooth or warted ; cystidia often 

 present ; stem central. 



The species of Inocybe are b}^ common consent admitted to be 

 practically impossible to determine in the field by those superficial 

 characters \\'hich in most instances suffice. On the other hand, 

 when microscopic characters are taken into consideration, it is 

 found that the species fall into distinctly marked groups, furnish- 

 ing an easy means of determining the species. 



The microscopic characters to be relied upon are the spores, 

 which di^'ide the species into two groups, depending on \\'hether 

 the wall of the spore is smooth, or rough with warts or spines. 

 The second character turns on the presence or absence of cystidia 

 in the gills. Cystidia, as previously explained, are ver}^ large, more 

 or less thick-walled cells present in the hymenial tissue, and pro- 



