cording to Kalchbrenner, it is eagerly sought for food in the 
woods of Hungary, and is also cultivated on pieces of elm trunks 
in gardens. : 
The Oyster mushroom, or Oyster pleurotus, Plewrotus os- 
treatus, probably takes its name from some fancied resemblance 
between the shape of its cap and that of an oyster shell, rather 
than from any similarity ~be- 
tween its flavor and that of 
an oyster. It is closely al- 
lied to the Sapid mushroom; 
has the same colors, though 
with us it is usually white or 
merely shaded with yellow, 
and about the same size and 
taste. It differs principally 
in having no stem at all, or 
VU only a very short lateral or 
Pleurotus ostreatus. Hygrophorus miniatus. eccentric one. It grows in 
clusters, one plant arranged 
above another on the sides of dead trunks of standing trees. Its 
gills are white or yellowish-white and reticulately connected 
where they run down on the short stem, or at their inner extremi- 
ty. It is commonly found in autumn, but it may occur also in 
summer during wet or showery weather. It has long been classed 
as esculent, but on account of the toughness of the flesh and lack 
of flavor, it can scarcely be placed among the mushrooms of first 
quality. Cooke says it should be slowly and carefully cooked, 
and French writers recommend it only while yet young and ten- 
der. For culinary use it is scarcely worth while to keep the Oys- 
ter mushroom and the Sapid mushroom apart. 
The genus Hygrophorus is chiefly distinguished by the charac- 
ter of the gills. These are usually rather thick, wide apart and 
of a somewhat soft waxy texture. In some species they are simi- 
lar to the gills of Tricholoma in their attachment to the stem; in 
others, they run down on the stem as in the genus Clitocybe, and 
such species bear so close a resemblance to species of Clitocybe 
that they were formerly associated with them. Many of them 
have both cap and stem very viscid or glutinous, a character not 
found in any of our clitocybes. No dangerous species are known, 
but one or two have been suspected of being at least unwhole- 
some. We have several species that have been placed in the 
edible list; for example, the Ivory hygrophorus, Hygrophorus 
eburneus, the Meadow hygrophorus, Hygrophorus pratensis, and 
61 
