334 SECTION HYGROPHORUS 



Lamellae subdecurrent, acuminate, white to pallid or sometimes 

 tinged pale incarnate but never reddish-spotted, narrow, subdistant, 

 thickish, sometimes forked, intervenose. 



Stipe 4-9 cm long, 10-20 mm thick, white to buff or incarnate 

 tinged, equal or tapering downward, stout, dry, solid, compact, upper 

 portion white floccose-punctate, the scales or points becoming reddish 

 in age or as the fruiting body dries, more or less appressed-fibrillose 

 toward the base, typically dry but sometimes subviscid to the touch 

 when the basal portion becomes water-soaked. 



Spores 6.5-9.5 X 4-5.5 /x, ellipsoid, smooth, pale yellowish in 

 Melzer's reagent. Basidia 41-62 x 5.5-7 fx, 2- and 4-spored. Pleuro- 

 cystidia and cheilocystidia none. Gill trama divergent, 4-10 /* broad. 

 Cuticle an ixotrichodermium, the hyphae 2-3 fx broad, mostly more or 

 less erect, others repent and then radial, pale fuscous. No hypo- 

 dermium differentiated. Pileus trama of interwoven, radially disposed 

 hyphae. Clamp connections on the hyphae of the cuticle, the pileus 

 trama, and the gill trama. 



Habit, Habitat, and Distribution — Scattered to gregarious in 

 bogs or in mixed coniferous forests, Maine, New York, Michigan, 

 Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, California, Oregon, and Ontario, 

 August-October; also Europe and U.S.S.R. 



Material Studied — California: Smith 55925. Colorado: Baxter, 

 Tolland, Aug. 26, 1920; Kauffman, Tolland, Sept. 4, 1920; Smith 

 51624, 52643, 52810. idaho: Gruber P43; Smith 23516, 23535, 46477, 

 46824, 47115, 59795, 59840, 59983, 60295; Westerdale & Smith 59572, 

 59872, 60218. maine: Bigelow 4674, 4753, 4754. Michigan: Bailey 48; 

 Smith 1103, 1123, 35935, 36100, 43658, 43834, 43878, 50888; Thiers 

 4174. new Mexico: Barrows, Santa Fe, Sept. 1955. new york: House, 

 Newcomb, Sept. 30, 1922; Kauffman & Mains, North Elba, Sept. 12, 

 1914; Smith 965. Oregon: Brown, Corvallis, Nov. 20, 1925. Canada: 

 (Quebec) Drayton F8724; Groves & Conners F8676; (Ontario) Hoark 

 34620; Smith 4843, 4892. Denmark: M. Lange (Hesler 23956). 



Observations — We are basing our concept of this species on that 

 of Kauffman (1918). Most investigators, including Peck (1907) in the 

 United States, have described the stipe as viscid. In our collections 

 from the areas cited above we were unable to demonstrate the pres- 

 ence of a gelatinous sheath at any stage of development. At times, 

 however, the fibrillose covering at the base of the stipe may become 

 quite moist or water-soaked, and under such conditions the hyphae 

 gelatinize slightly producing a slight stickiness. A similar condition has 

 been noted in species of Cortinarius of the subgenus Inoloma. This 

 should not be regarded as true viscidity. Since dried specimens of both 



