Agaricacese 



Hyphoioma. Half a dozen or more of the species are exceedingly difficult to sep- 

 arate. Professor Peck has happily made a new species, H. perplexum, 

 which is well named. For all culinary purposes these affiliated species 

 may be gathered under that convenient name ; for botanic purposes his 

 description covers several perplexing characteristics common to what 

 have been written as separate species, and covers a composite species. 



The occasional bitter taste of some species is not constant, and can 

 not be relied upon as a distinguishing mark. In the same tufts some 

 individuals may be mild, others bitter; some individuals in groups are in 

 a position and of an age to absorb water ; others are not. There will 

 be a marked difference in their taste raw. A few in the same group may 

 have been infested by insects ; others not. Those infested are often in- 

 tensely bitter, while their companions are of pleasant flavor. The same 

 remarks apply to neighboring clusters and individuals. I am of the 

 opinion, from long observation, that the bitter is largely due to the in- 

 jury and excrement of larvae. Changes of taste occur in toadstools in 

 a most marked and rapid manner. Apples from the same tree, chest- 

 nuts from the same tree, acorns from the same oak, radishes from the 

 same seed, blackberries from the same bush, differ widely in taste. Why 

 not toadstools of the same species? 



I have often seen species of this genus, described as having stems up 

 to 5 in. long, stretch and twist their stems to over a foot in order to get 

 their caps from the inside of, or from a crack in a decaying stump, out into 

 the light; and I have seen stems of the same species stout, solid and 

 sturdy when individuals grew upright and singly. But wherever and 

 however they grow, Hypholomas are safe. I have eaten them indis- 

 criminately since 1 88 1, and as long ago as 1885 published their edibility. 



FASCICULA'RES. Pileus smooth, etc. 



H. perplex'um Pk. perplexus, perplexed. Perplexing Hyphoioma. 

 (Plate XCVII, fig. 2, p. 352.) Pileus convex or nearly plane, gla- 

 brous, sometimes broadly and slightly umbonate, reddish or brownish- 

 red fading to yellow on the- margin, the flesh white or whitish. La- 

 mellae thin, close, slightly rounded at the inner extremity, at first pale- 

 yellow, then tinged with green, finally purplish-brown. Stem nearly 

 equal, firm, hollow, slightly fibrillose, whitish or yellowish above, rusty- 

 reddish or reddish-brown below. Spores elliptical, purplish-brown, 



354 f 



