Leucosporae 



HYGROPHORUS PRATENSIS. 



HYGROPH'ORUS Fr. 



Gr. moist; Gr. to bear. 



Pileus regular or undulated and wavy, often viscid or moist. Flesh Hygrophorus. 

 of the pileus continuous with that of (Plate XXXVIII.) 



the stem and descending as a trama 

 into the gills. Gills adnate or ad- 

 nexed, more or less decurrent, waxy, 

 often thick and forked, edge always 

 tliin and sharp, often branched. 



On the ground. Many species are 

 brightly colored. Spores white. 



This genus differs from the pre- 

 ceding genera in the manifest trama, 

 the substance of which is similar to 

 that of the pileus ; from Lactarius 



and Russula by the trama not being vesicular, but somewhat floccose 

 with granules intermixed ; from Cantharellus, its nearest ally, by the 

 sharp edge of the gills. The Cortinarii, Paxilli and Gomphidii are at 

 once distinguished from it by their colored spores and the changing color 

 of their gills, as well as by other marks. From all the other genera of 

 Agaricini it is distinguished by a mark peculiar to itself, viz., by the 

 hymeneal stratum of the gills changing into a waxy mass, which is at 

 length removable from the trama. This altogether singular character is 

 specially remarkable in H. caprinus, coccineus, murinaceus, etc. Hence 

 the gills seem full of watery juice, but they do not become milky like 

 those of the Lactarii. Fries. 



From the description by Fries, the author of the genus, it is manifest 

 that one has to wait the ripening of the fungus before the peculiar char- 

 acteristic mark of the genus, i. e. gills turning into a waxy mass, 

 easily removable from the cap can be observed. Many of the species 

 are difficult to determine when fresh. Nevertheless, there is an inde- 

 scribable, watery, waxy, translucent appearance about the gills which 

 catches the eye of the expert, and is soon learned by the novice. The 

 white spores readily separate the genus from kindred shapes in the col- 

 ored-spored genera. 



So far as tested none of the species is poisonous. One English spe- 



147 



