Leucosporae 



pressed, polished, not squamulose nor mealy; gills plane, horizontal, cntocybe. 

 thin, crowded, adnate or decurrent with a small tooth. Color dingy or 

 becoming watery pale. 



* Gills becoming ash-colored. Pileus at first dark. 

 ** Gills whitish. Pileus becoming pale. 



VERSIFORMES (variable in shape). Page 1 06. 



Pileus thin, convex then deformed, tough, more or less squamulose 

 or furfuraceous ; gills adnate, broad, rather thick, generally distant. 

 Color hygrophanous. 



* Pileus squalid or brownish with dark squamules. None known to 

 be edible. 



** Pileus bright, of one color. 



Series A. 



I. DISCIFOR'MES. 



* Pileus gray or brownish. 



C. nebllla'risBatsch. nebula, a cloud. (Plate XXIV, fig. 7, p. 82.) 

 The Clouded clitocybe, Clitocybe nebularis, takes its name from the 

 clouded-gray appearance of its thick cap, which is at first convex, but 

 when mature, either flat or a little depressed. Its flesh is white, thick- 

 est in the middle, and in a vertical section is seen to taper rapidly down- 

 ward into the stem. The gills are close together and rather narrow for 

 the size of the plant. They are white or yellowish-white. The stout 

 solid stem usually tapers upward from the base and is whitish. 



The cap is two to four inches or more broad, the stem one to two 

 inches long and about half an inch thick. The Clouded mushroom 

 grows in woods, and sometimes forms large tufts or clusters among fallen 

 leaves. It is found in autumn, but is not very common in this country. 

 Authors differ in their estimate of the edible qualities of this mushroom, 

 but the more recent ones generally agree in classing it as edible . ' ' Mush- 

 rooms and Their Use," C. H. Peck. 



Spores 4.5x3/4 Cooke / elliptical 6x3.5/4 Massee ; 3x4/4 W.G.S. 



There has been great diversity of opinion as to the edibility of this 

 species on the continent. Cordier and a friend suffered from it. Paulet 

 counseled mistrust. 



85 



