srnsi.ciio\ iiYcnocrm 133 



Hygrophorus aeutus Sin. c\ Hes. 

 Lloydia 5: 57. 1942 



Pileus 3-4.5 cm broad, with a sharp conic umbo and a somewhat 

 flaring margin, color dull lead gray or putty color over the umbo, pallid 

 umbrinous toward the margin, surface glabrous, subviscid to viscid. 

 pellicle separable in shreds, short striate but not translucent. Context 

 grayish, thick under the umbo, thin elsewhere, waxy and brittle; odor 

 and taste 4 mild. 



Lamellae adnate to adnate-dec orient, close to subdistant, seceding 

 at times, whitish to pale cinereous (just off-color from white to pale 

 ash color), no color change on bruised portions, narrow (4-5 mm 

 broad), intervenose, edges even. 



Stipe 7-9 cm long, 6-8 mm thick, white over all both inside and 

 out, solid, equal, glabrous or slightly scurvy above, unpolished, not 

 changing color when bruised. 



Spores 6-7(8) X 4-5.5 /x, ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, yellowish in 

 Melzer's reagent. Basidia 38-48 X 6-9 /x, 2- and 4-spored. Cheilocystidia 

 and pleurocystidia none. Gill trama of subparallel hyphae, the central 

 portion of short, interwoven hvphal cells 4-8 fx broad. Cuticle an 

 ixocutis, consisting of a narrow ( 20-35 \x ) gelatinous zone of colorless, 

 repent, narrow (2-4 \x) hyphae. No hypodermium. Pileus trama of 

 interwoven radial hyphae, 5-8 /x broad. Clamp connections present on 

 the cuticular and pileus trama hyphae. 



Habit, Habitat, and Distbibutiox — Singly under fir and red- 

 wood, Oregon, California, and Michigan, September-December. 



Material Studied — California: Smith 9395. Michigan: Smith 

 21366. Oregon: Smith 7986 (tvpe, from the South Fork of the McKen- 

 zie River, Oct. 20, 1937), 19164. 



Observations — The distinguishing features of this species are the 

 stature which resembles that of H. amocnus, the dark gray viscid 

 pileus, the white dry stipe, and small spores. The gill trama of 

 H. acutus is more inteiwoven than that of most species in this series. 

 H. fornicatus should differ in stature, but H. acutus is also much 

 darker in color and its gills are adnate to adnate-decurrent rather than 

 sinuate to adnexed. 



67 



Hygrophorus cuspidatus Pk. 



Torrey Bot. Club Bull. 24: 141. 1897 



Hydrocybe cuspidata (Pk.) Murr., North Amer. Flora 9: 379. 1916. 



