Report of the State Botanist. 153 



merely scurfy, in others it is scaly from the cracking of the cuticle into 

 small areas or fragments. Rarely it has a spotted appearance. Gen- 

 erally the plant grows singly, but sometimes it forms large tufts or 

 clusters. 



Fries remarks that its odor and taste are pleasant and that it is edible 

 but tough. Probably for esculent purposes it would be better to use 

 only the younger plants. 



CLYPEOLARII. 



Annulus persistent, fixed, homogeneous with the universal veil ivhich 

 coats the stem. 



In this tribe the annulus does not become movable on the stem and 

 the fibrils or scales of the veil clothe that part of the stem which is 

 below the annulus and the exterior or lower surface of the annulus 

 also . The species are mostly small or of medium size and some possess 

 a distinct odor. 



Agaricus Friesii, Lasch. 



Fries' Agaric. 



"Pileus fleshy, soft, lacerated into appressed tomentose scales ; stem 

 hollow, with a webby pith, subbulbous, squamose"; annulus superior, 

 pendulous, equal; lamellae subremote, linear, crowded, branched.'' — 

 Hymen. Europ., p. 31. 



Pileus fleshy but rather thin, convex or nearly plane, clothed with 

 a soft tawny or brownish-tawny tomentum which breaks up into ap- 

 pressed often subconfluent scales, the disk rough with small acute 

 erect scales, flesh soft, white ; lamellae narroiu, croiuded, free, white, 

 some of them forked ; stem equal or slightly tapering upward, sub- 

 bulbous, hollow, colored like the pileus below the annulus and there 

 clothed with soft tomentose fibrils which sometimes form floccose or 

 tomentose scales, white and pruinose above, annulus well-developed, 

 flabby, white above, tawny and floccose-scaly below ; spores .00028' — 

 .00032' long, .00012' — .00016' broad. 



Plant 2' — 5' high ; pileus 1' — 4' broad ; stem 2 — o r thick. 



Soft loose soil in woods and low bushy places. July — September. 

 Catskill mountains and Bast Worcester. 



I have quoted the description of this species as it is given in Epi- 

 crisis, because the American plant which 1 have referred to it does not 

 in all respects agree with this description, but comes so near it that it 

 can scarcely be specifically distinct. In the American plant, so far as 

 I have seen it, erect acute scales are always present, especially on the 

 disk, and the tomentum of the pileus does not always break up into 

 [Sen. Doc. No. 38.] 20 



