58 LEVINE: SPORADIC APPEARANCE OF NON-EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 
tomentose bases of the stipes, as shown in Fic. 7. My observa- 
tions as to the diagnostic characteristics of the fungus agree with 
the description given by Murrill. The spore print, however, 
although blackish in general, appears to have a delicate purplish 
hue. The shape of the spores is like that of the other species of 
Panaeolus. In my spore prints there is a great number of trans- 
lucent, possibly immature spores. The following characters are 
generally present. The sporophores are 6-12 cm. tall; they are 
cespitose or gregarious. The pileus is 2~5 cm. in diameter and 
is rather fleshy. Its shape differs with the age, being campan- 
ulate in young specimens, later becoming plane and umbonate. 
The surface is moist and hygrophanous and is fulvous to isabelline 
in color (Ridgw.) when young, and dark bay when mature. In 
mature specimens the surface becomes wrinkled, as shown in FIG. 
1. The gills are adnately attached and fuliginous in color with a 
grayish white edge. The stipe is fleshy, but hollow in the center, 
and in length is approximately two to three times the diameter 
of the pileus. The surface is striate and is covered with small 
hair-like scales. The base of the stipe is, as noted above, con- 
spicuously covered with a white tomentum. 
The obviously different looking plants, shown in PLATE 4, 
FIGS, 12-14, appeared during the month of April in one of the 
greenhouses in which the floor below the benches was used for 
mushroom culture. These plants were not abundant but were 
collected twice during the month. The whole of the material 
weighed about 40 grams, most of which was used in the experiment 
to determine the physiological and toxological properties. It was 
found that the plant was poisonous in the same degree as P- 
venenosus. The sporophores in general are like those of P. veneno- 
sus but they differ materially in the length of the stipe. The 
stipe is 2-4 cm. long and 5-8 mm. thick; that is, one fifth to one 
third the size of the stipe of P. venenosus. It is striate, however, 
and is somewhat covered with hair-like scales, as in P. venenosus. 
It is hollow and tapers slightly toward the base. Its color is 
fulvous and darker at the base than the stipe of P. venenosus and 
the tomentum at the base, noted in P. venenosus, is poorly de- 
veloped and may be lacking. The taste and color are like those 
of P. venenosus. It may be regarded as a form of that species. 
