Melanosporae 



the apex. Gills adnate, broad, ventricose, slightly distant, distinct, Psathyreiia. 

 whitish, but cinereous-blackish with the black spores. Fries. 



Solitary or gregarious. Pileus changing like A. gracilis from livid 

 to whitish and rose-color, but more fragile. Stevenson. 



Spores elliptical, iox4/u. Massec; 14x9^ W.G.S.; I ix8/* Morgan. 



Chester county, Pa., June to September. Mcllvaine. 



Several specimens were eaten. In flavor they could not be distin- 

 guished from C. micaceus. The scarcity and small size of the species 

 make it of little value, save as a flavoring. 



P. dissemina'ta Pers. dissemino, to scatter. Found everywhere. 

 Densely tufted. Pileus about 14 in. across, (Plate CXI.) 



membranaceous, ovate, bell-shaped, at first 

 scurfy, then naked, coarsely striate, mar- 

 gin entire, yellowish then gray. Gills ad- 

 nate, narrow, whitish, then gray, finally 

 blackish. Stem 11^2 in. long, rather 

 curved, mealy then smooth, fragile, hol- 

 low. Massee. 



Crowded. Pileus ovate, conical, at 

 length bell-shaped, l A% in. from the base 

 to the apex, striate and plicate, membra- 

 naceous, pale buff or reddish-brown, at 

 length gray, becoming flaccid and dissolv- 

 ing. Gills distant, narrow, pale brown. 

 Stipes 13 in. long, slender, weak, brittle, 

 crooked, hollow, pale yellowish, whitish or 



grayish. Particularly partial to old willow trees, and when growing on 

 a stump of a felled tree often covering nearly a square yard. Grev. 



Spores 8x6^ W.G.S.; 7.6x5/4 Morgan. 



West Virginia, New Jersey, Mt. Gretna, Pa., about abandoned camp. 

 Densely tufted. May to frost. Mcllvaine. 



Patches of it are very common on old trunks, about decaying trees, 

 on ground. The caps rarely reach I in. in diameter. The plants cook 



jY**'^s 



PSATHYRELLA DISSEMINATA. 



391 



