146 SECTION HYGROCYBE 



darkening somewhat, margin decurved and frequently becoming scal- 

 loped or wavy, in age the margin sometimes spreading, dry, minutely 

 and densely floccose at least on the disc or in the depression, usually 

 becoming somewhat scaly. Context thin or fairly thick, soft, concolor- 

 ous with the pileus; odor and taste mild. 



Lamellae at first adnate, remaining so or becoming deeply decur- 

 rent, sometimes red or orange, or sometimes pallid or faintly yellow, 

 distant, broad or medium broad, at times forked near the margin, 

 edges even. 



Stipe 4-12 cm X 1-3 mm, vermilion -red or yellowish, whitish where 

 buried in the moss, equal, usually flexuous, fragile, glabrous, or silky, 

 not viscid, stuffed solid or becoming tubular. 



Spores (9)10-14 X 5-9(10) /x, subellipsoid to subreniform, smooth, 

 pale yellow in Melzer's reagent. Basidia 41-68 X 7-12 /x, 2- and 4- 

 spored, sterigmata long, prominent. Pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia 

 buried, scattered ( see notes on type, below ) . Gill trama subparallel to 

 slightly interwoven, hyphae 12-32 X 7-18 /x, yellowish in Melzer's 

 reagent, in water mounts of fresh specimens the cells of the flesh and 

 gill trama are filled with a bright orange find. Clamp connections 

 present on the hyphae of the pileus trama. 



Habit, Habitat, and Distribution — Gregarious to scattered in 

 Sphagnum bogs throughout northern and eastern United States and 

 in Ontario and Quebec, in Canada, June-October. Singer has collected 

 it in Europe. Hongo (1958a) reports it from Japan. 



Material Studied — Massachusetts: Bigelow 6206. Michigan: 

 Smith 1101, 25602, 25801, 32233. new york: Peck (type of H. 

 miniatus var. sphagnophilus Pk., from Kasoog Swamp, July), north 

 Carolina: Hesler 4409, 10448, 12163. west Virginia: Sharp 12562. 

 Canada: (Quebec) Smith 61528; (Ontario) Smith 4548; (Newfound- 

 land) Saville & Vaillancourt 28523. 



Observations — This form was originally described as H. miniatus 

 var. sphagnophilus Pk. Kiihner and Romagnesi (1953) describe 

 H. turundus as having fibrils on the pileus which become dark colored. 

 Since the fibrils in var. sphagnophilus tend to darken somewhat and 

 because of its spore size, it seems to us that the variety is more closely 

 related to H. turundus than to H. miniatus; therefore we have at- 

 tached it to H. turundus. It has also been attached to H. miniatus as 

 f. sphagnophilus by Hongo (1952a). 



Notes on the type of H. miniatus var. sphagnophilus Pk.: Spores 

 9-12(14) X 5.5-7(8.5) /*, ellipsoid, subovoid, or broadly cuneate, 

 smooth, yellowish in Melzer's reagent. Basidia 46-60 X 8-11 /x, 2- and 

 4-spored. Pleurocystidia 44-57 X 6-12 t*,, buried, scattered, versiform 



