the Virgin hygrophorus, Hygrophorus virgineus, but inasmuch 
as I have not tried them, a single species, the Vermilion hygro- 
phorus, Hygrophorus miniatus, will here be described. 
It is a small but common species, highly colored and very at- 
tractive. The cap is at first convex, but when fully expanded, it 
is nearly or quite flat, and in wet weather it even becomes concave 
by the elevation of the margin. It is thin and fragile and its sur- 
face is sometimes smooth and shining and in other cases it is 
roughened as if by numerous scurfy erect scales as in the Laccate 
mushroom. Its color varies from bright vermilion or blood-red to 
paler orange hues, and in variety lutescens it is wholly yellow. 
The gills are yellow, but often shaded with red. They are gen- 
erally attached to the stem by their entire width at the inner ex- 
tremity, but specimens sometimes occur in which they are 
notched near the stem or even slightly decurrent on it. 
The stem is usually short and slender, colored like or a little 
paler than the cap and solid when young, but becoming stuffed or 
hollow with age. 
The cap varies from half an inch to three inches broad; the 
stem is one to two inches long and commonly one to two lines 
thick. 
The Vermilion mushroom grows both in woods and in the 
open country, on naked soil or among mosses and fallen leaves. 
It is sometimes found growing in the sphagnum of peat marshes, 
and as a rule it is more plentiful in wet weather than in dry. It 
especially delights in cool mountainous or hilly districts, and in 
recently burned clearings in such localities. A favorite place of 
growth also is under a dense luxuriant growth of brakes in the 
vicinity of mountain forests. In such places it often attains a 
much larger size than elsewhere. It grows either singly or in 
groups, occasionally in clusters, and may be found through sum- 
mer and autumn. In favorable localities it is not difficult to find 
it sufficiently abundant to furnish a generous supply for the table 
notwithstanding its small size. It is scarcely surpassed by any 
mushroom in tenderness of substance and agreeableness of flavor. 
Two or three other species of Hygrophorus have red caps, but 
two of them, Hygrophorus coccineus and H. puniceus, are classed 
as edible, and no harm would come of confusing them with the 
Vermilion mushroom. Their viscid caps, however, would dis- 
tinguish them. The Chantarelle hygrophorus, Hygrophorus 
cantharelius, is colored almost exactly like the Vermilion hygro- 
phorus, but it is a smaller plant with a longer stem and gills that 
run down on the stem very decidedly. Its taste to me is very 
disagreeable. 
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