48 Thirty-sixth Report on the State Museum. 



Agaricus placomyces, Pk. 

 Flat-cap Agaric. 



Pileus fleshy but rather thin, at first convex or campanulate, then 

 expanded and quite plane, squamulose, whitisli, the disc and minute 

 scales broivn ; lamellae close, free, white, then pinhish, finally blackish- 

 brown; stem smooth, stuffed with a small pith slightly tapering upward, 

 bulbous, whitish, the bulb stained with yellow and usually giving rise 

 to one or two mycelioid white root-like processes; annulus large, 

 flabby; spores elliptical, .0002 to .00025 in. long, .00016 to .00018 in. 

 broad. 



Plant 3 to 5 in. high, pileus 2 to 4 in. broad, stem 2 to 4 lines 

 thick. 



Under hemlock trees. Oneida and Knowersville. July. 



This rare but beautiful Agaric is easily distinguished from its allies 

 by the bulbous stem and the perfectly flat white surface of the ex- 

 panded pileus finely adorned by numerous minute brown scales. These 

 scales are confluent on the disk where they form a brown 8j)ot, thus 

 imitating in appearance many species of the subgenus Lepiota. Some- 

 times faint radiating strias extend from the disk to the margin of the 

 pileus. In damp weather the large thin annulus is sometimes studded 

 with drops of moisture of a dark color. Nothing is known concern- 

 ing the edible qualities of the species. The specific name is derived 

 from two Greek words, TtXauovi, a flat cake, and piVKj]?, a fungus, 

 and has reference to the very flat horizontally expanded jDileus. 



Agaricus silvaticus, Schmff. 



Wood Agaric. 



Pileus thin, at first convex or campanulate, then expanded, gibbous 

 or subumbonate, fibrillose or variegated with a few thin tawny brown- 

 ish or reddish-brown s2)ot-liJce aitpressed scales, whitish, brownish or 

 smoky gray, the disk sometimes tinged with red or reddish-brown, the 

 flesh white or faintly reddish ; lamellae thin, close, free, narrowed 

 toward each end, reddish, then blackish-brown ; stem rather long, 

 equal or slightly tapering upward, holbw, whitish; spores ellijitical, 

 .0002 to .00025 in. long, .00016 to .0002 in. broad. 



Plant 3 to 5 in. high, pileus 2 to 4 in. broad, stem 4 to 6 lines 

 thick. 



Woods. Summer and autumn. Not common. 



The absence of a bulbous base to the stem and the fibrillose or feebly 

 scaly pileus which is more or less gibbous or umbonate, serve to dis- 

 tinguish this from the two preceding species. Concerning its edibility, 



