Porphyrosporee 



forming slender branching root-like strings. Spores elliptical, 6-Jp. Agaricns. 

 Peck, 48th Rep. N. Y. State Bot. 



Indiana, H. I. Miller, 1898; Haddonfield, N. J., Mcllvaine. 



June 2, 1896, I found several specimens of a fungus new to me, and 

 sent them to Professor Peck for identification. He pronounced it a 

 dwarf form of his species A. subrufescens. The cluster grew on a flor- 

 ist's compost pile at Haddonfield, N. J. Its flesh has a flavor like that 

 of almonds. 



This species is now cultivated and has manifest advantages over the 

 marketed species it is easier to cultivate, very productive, produces in 

 less time after planting the spawn, is free from attacks of insects, carries 

 better and keeps longer. 



Amateurs are likely to succeed in growing it, and to have goodly crops 

 of mushrooms instead of disappointments. 



A. placo'myces Pk. Gr. a flat cake. (Plate XCIII, fig. 3, p. 332.) 

 Pileus thin, at first convex, becoming flat with age, whitish, brown in 

 the center and elsewhere adorned with minute brown scales. Lamella} 

 close, white, then pinkish, finally blackish-brown. Stem smooth, an- 

 nulate, stuffed or hollow, bulbous, white or whitish, the bulb often 

 stained with yellow. Spores elliptical, 5-6.5/1* long. 



Cap 2-4 in. broad. Stem 3-5 in. long, H to nearly % in. thick. 



It grows in the borders of hemlock woods or under hemlock trees 

 from July to September. It has been eaten by Mr. C. L. Shear, who 

 pronounces it very good. I have not found it in sufficient q-uantity to 

 give it a trial. This mushroom is very closely related to the wood 

 mushroom or silvan mushroom, Agaricus silvaticus, a species which is 

 also recorded as edible, but which is apparently more rare in our state 

 (New York) than even the flat-cap mushroom. This differs from the 

 silvan mushroom in its paler color, in having the cap more minutely, 

 persistently and regularly scaly, and in its being destitute of a prominent 

 center. In the silvan mushroom thte scales, when present, are few, and 

 they disappear with age. Peck, 48th Rep. N. Y. State Bot. 



Mrs. E. C. Anthony, Gouverneur, N. Y., June, 1898, writes: "In 

 great abundance on lawn, tumbling over one another in their haste to 

 make their appearance. One of the largest, which did not have half a 

 chance to display its proportions, would probably measure 7 in., per- 

 haps more. When mature they crack across the top, showing the white 



345 



