SPECIES OF PAXILLUS. 31 



or sordid-buff to ferruginous or browuish-ochraceous, the margin at 

 first strongly involute and covered with a dense grayish tomentose vil- 

 losity, flesh grayish-white or pallid ; lamella? close, decurrent, branched 

 and anastomosing behind, whitish, then yellowish or subferruginous, 

 becoming reddish-brown or fuscous where cut or bruised, the inter- 

 spaces venose ; stem equal or slightly thickened at the base, central 

 or sometimes eccentric, glabrous, solid ; spores elliptical, .0003 to 

 .0004 in. long, .0002 to .00025 in. broad. 



Plant 2 to 4 in. high, pileus 2 to 4 in. broad, stem 4 to 8 lines 

 thick. 



In woods on the ground and on decaying wood. Common in the 

 Adirondack mountains and not rare in the mixed woods of all our 

 hilly districts. August to November. 



This species is said, by Fries and other authors, to be edible, but 

 I have not tested its edible qualities. It is said to be held in high 

 estimation as an article of food in Russia. It is somewhat solitary in 

 its mode of growth and prefers a soil chiefly composed of vegetable 

 mold. Damp shaded mossy banks and deep hemlock and spruce 

 woods are favorite habitats for it. It sometimes grows on much de- 

 cayed stumps and old prostrate trunks of trees. In such cases the 

 stem is sometimes eccentric, but when growing on the ground 

 it is almost always central, though Fries places the species in the 

 tribe Tapinia. Neither do the spores of our plant agree well with 

 the dimensions given in the Handbook of British Fungi, still it does 

 not appear to me to be specifically distinct. The pileus is generally 

 regular in outline and, when expanded, bears upon its margin short, 

 distant and somewhat irregular striations. The hairiness of the 

 margin is more distinct in the young plants. The color of the pileus 

 is not very decided, being somewhat variable, and a peculiar mixture 

 of gray, ochraceous, ferruginous and brown. The surface is some- 

 times opaque, sometimes shining. The lamellae and often other parts 

 of the plant change color when cut or bruised. In drying, the 

 lamellae of this and also of the preceding and the two following 

 species frequently assume a smoky-brown or blackish hue. 



Paxillus atrotomentosus Fr. 



Dark-Downy Paxillus. 



Pileus compact, convex, then expanded or centrally depressed, 

 varying from subglabrous to scabrous-granulose, sometimes tonien- 

 tose-hairy on the disk, often minutely rivulose, ochraceous-red, fer- 

 ruginous-brown or reddish-brown, the margin sometimes paler, flesh 



