262 SECTION HYGROPHORUS 



and cheilocystidia none. Gill trama of divergent hyphae, cells 4-10 fx 

 broad. Cuticle a gelatinous zone 160-250 /x thick, hyphae colorless, 

 interwoven, narrow (2-3 /a), the surface hyphae repent in a narrow 

 brown-pigmented zone, an ixocutis. No hypodermium differentiated. 

 Pileus trama of radial hyphae, interwoven. Clamp connections on the 

 cuticular hyphae. 



Habit, Habitat, and Distribution — On soil, often in moss- 

 hummocks, in pine and mixed woods, Tennessee, Georgia, and Ala- 

 bama, November-January; also Europe. 



Material Studied — Alabama: Hesler 22263. Georgia: Hesler 

 22227. Tennessee: Hesler 6192, 6199, 8435, 10093, 10948, 11836, 13019, 

 13028, 14099, 14121, 16619, 22557. 



Observations — Britzelmayer (1899) characterized his species as 

 having cap and stipe viscid, spores 8-9 X 4-5 /x, and "der Pilz in alien 

 seinen Theilen aussen u. innen weiss." He compared it to H. gliocyclus. 

 Niiesch ( 1922 ) suggested that it was closer to H. penarius because of 

 the attenuated base of its stipe along with such characters as the 

 slightly viscid pileus and stipe. Niiesch, apparently, had never col- 

 lected the species, so it seems logical to limit ourselves to Britzel- 

 mayer's description. The outstanding characters of Hesler's collections 

 are the white color in all parts (this color is retained in drying), the 

 viscid pileus and stipe, spore size, and a general resemblance in stature 

 to H. gliocyclus. It can be readily seen that the American collections 

 agree perfectly with Britzelmayer's description on all important charac- 

 ters. We are inclined to discount any apparent differences in the size 

 and shape of the stipe as variations similar to those frequently encoun- 

 tered in such comomn species as H. eburneus. In North America H. 

 ponderatus is most likely to be confused with H. sordidus Pk., another 

 large white species. The latter, however, has a truly dry stipe in all 

 stages of its development. 



SERIES DISCOIDEI (Bataille) stat. nov. 



Subsection Discoidei Bataille, Flore Monogr. Hygrophores, p. 36. 

 1910. 



Characters as given in key to series, page 249. 

 Type species: Hygrophorus discoideus Fr. 



Key to Species 



1. Pileus dingy yellow-brown; gluten copious on stipe and stipe apex sca- 

 brous, the projections becoming yellow to olive in age . 172. H. paludosus 

 1. Not with above combination of characters 2 





