Agaricacese 



Lactarius. L. involu'tus Soppitt. involved. Every part white or with a very 

 slight ochraceous tinge. Pileus i 2 in. across, flesh about i/4 lines 

 thick, equal up to the margin, compact, rigid, convex, soon becoming 

 plane or slightly depressed, margin strongly and persistently involute, 

 extreme edge minutely silky, remainder even and glabrous. Gills very 

 slightly decurrent, densely crowded, not % line broad, sometimes forked. 

 Stem %i in. long, 2-3 lines thick, equal, or slightly thickened at the 

 base, glabrous, even, solid, very firm. Milk white, unchangeable, not 

 scanty, very hot. Spores obliquely elliptical, smooth, 5x3/01. 



Very firm and rigid, resembling in habit L. vellereus in miniature. 

 Most nearly allied to L. scoticus, but known at once by the exceedingly 

 narrow, densely-crowded gills and the smooth, elliptical spores. Massee. 



West Virginia, 1881-1885, plentiful. Angora, West Philadelphia. 

 August, September, 1897. In mixed woods. Mcllvaine. 



Much smaller than L. piperatus. Pileus convex, then plane with 

 depressions in center, margin involute. Gills slightly decurrent, densely 

 crowded, very narrow. Stem short, firm, solid. Milk white, very hot. 



L. involutus is readily mistaken for small forms of L. vellereus and 

 L. piperatus. The extremely narrow gills, so close and firm that it takes 

 sharp eyes to follow them, are a distinguishing mark. 



Its flesh is of same consistency as L. piperatus hard and coarse. It 

 loses its pepperiness in cooking and is a good emergency plant, or 

 solvent. 



II. DAPETES daps, food. Milk highly colored, etc. 



America is rich in this section. Fries records but two species, L. 

 deliciosus and L. sanguifluus, while America has four. The edible 

 properties of three are known to be good ; L. subpurpureus has not come 

 under observation, but is added to complete the series as it is probably 

 edible and is well marked by its dark-red milk. Mcllvaine. 



L. delicio'sus Fr. delicious. (Plate XLI, fig. 3, p. 160.) Pilens 

 2-6 in. broad, orange-brick-color, yellowish or grayish-orange, becom- 

 ing pale, fleshy, when quite young depressed in the center, margin 

 naked, involute, then piano-depressed or broadly funnel-shaped with 

 the margin unfolded, smooth, slightly viscid, zoned (zones sometimes 

 obsolete). Flesh soft, not compact, pallid, colored at the circumfer- 



170 



